


Finding Home

by GamerAlexis



Series: Vault Family [1]
Category: Borderlands
Genre: Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2018-07-17 23:32:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7290544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamerAlexis/pseuds/GamerAlexis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was more to Axton's hunt for glory than money and fame.  Somehow along the dangerous road as a Vault Hunter, he found exactly what he was looking for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This started as an exploration of Gaige and Axton being BFFs and evolved into something a little bit bigger.
> 
> I kept in the fast travel because it's very canon to the universe. And it kind of reminds me of Willy Wonka when he delivers candy via television. There aren't any New U stations though.

When Axton came to, all he knew he was fucking freezing cold and aching all over.  Then he heard an annoying, robotic voice over him.  Something about dead vault hunters and Handsome Jack.  Axton groaned and struggled to open his eyes.  There was a blizzard raging around him and he could barely see in front of him.

Glancing around, he saw five other bodies half conscious in the snow, all gingerly sitting up.

"Oh hey, you're not dead!"

Looking up, Axton saw that stupid robotic voice belonged to a tiny yellow robot carrying a shovel, digging in the snow.

"Everyone okay?" he called out, sliding into the role of leader as easily as an old coat.

Maya was next to him, rubbing her bare arm and shivering.  Salvador groaned and hesitantly rose to his feet, cracking his neck.  Zer0 was already standing, shoulders hunched against the cold and bracing wind.

Something inside him relaxed at the sight of his fellow vault hunters alive.  Axton hadn't had a team since he left Dahl and it was nice, for once, to have a group of people to rely on.

Then a massive psycho rose from the snow.  Axton instantly moved into action, standing up despite his protesting limbs, and reaching for his turret.  He threw down his turret and nothing happened, not even a fizzle of life in his baby.  Salvador had his fists up and Zer0's sword was aimed straight for the psycho's throat.

Maya moved in a flash, standing between the psycho and everyone else.

"No," she said.  "He's a friend.  He saved my life at the train station."

"You never mentioned he was a psycho!" Axton growled, scooping up his turret and cradling her gently in his arms.

"He's different," Maya said.  "There's... a voice of sanity in there, somewhere.  I don't think he's always been like this."

Axton sighed and gestured for the others to stand down.  "None of them were.  Are we all okay?"

A perky, female voice chirped from behind them.

"Well, I don't know about you, but  _I'm_ not doing so good."

Axton jumped and spun around, peeking around Zer0's narrow frame.

"I mean, I love snow as much as the next person, but it makes my robotic arm hurt like a  _bitch_."

Sitting cross-legged in the snow was a teenage girl, rubbing her cybernetic shoulder with a grimace.  Axton was prepared to lay into her, demand to know what a teenager was doing on a train exclusive for vault hunters, but they were interrupted by the little yellow robot.

One ECHO device and quick run later, the six of them were gathered in Claptrap's little house, tucked away from the snowstorm and huddled on a musty couch in front of a tiny fire.  Except for the psycho, Krieg, who chose to sit alone in a corner, holding his buzz axe gently in his meaty hands.

Claptrap didn't have much in the way of food, or any other human needs, but it was a warm place that had medical supplies and weapons and that was more than enough for them.

"So, Gaige, you said?" Axton turned to the teenager, pulling a blanket tighter around his shoulders.  "Aren't you a little young to be a vault hunter?"

"Didn't know there was an age limit," Gaige shot back.

Axton immediately felt something warming in his chest at her sass.

"You didn't leave home, not as young as you are, to come vault hunting, did you?" Maya folded her arms and managed to actually look down at Gaige like a scolding mother.

Gaige looked down at her hands, her cybernetic hand actually, flexing the metal fingers against her skirt.  "Accidentally killed a girl at my school.  Ran away to avoid prison.  Always wanted to visit Pandora, you know, find a vault maybe."

Surprisingly, Salvador laughed at that.  "We're more common than you think, amigo."

One by one, the others fell asleep, exhausted after such a busy day.  Axton stayed awake, staring into the fire and toying with the ring around his neck.  This was hardly how he expected his arrival on Pandora to go.

Although, he did answer this vault hunting call from the radio.  And it was technically a hoax anyway - exploding train and all that.  Still, between the weird AI infiltrating their ECHO devices and Claptrap taking them to Sanctuary to kill Handsome Jack, Axton was almost missing the military.

Emphasis on almost.

Gaige was still awake on the couch, staring at the pistol that Claptrap gave her.  Axton sighed and moved to sit beside her.

"Ever shoot a gun, kid?"

"I created Deathtrap so I didn't have to shoot people," Gaige said, flicking her arm and wincing when nothing happened.  "But I guess he's malfunctioning too."

"If you want to be a vault hunter, you're gonna have to learn," Axton said.

"Okay, so teach me," Gaige looked up at Axton.  Her eyes were vibrant green and determined.  She really wanted this, didn't she?

"In the morning," Axton promised.

Gaige grinned and moved to lay on the couch, setting her gun down on the floor.  Axton settled himself in, ready to take a first watch, but as he glanced over the frozen home, Axton realized there was no danger here.  They were literally stranded on a frozen ice shelf and left for dead - no one would be hunting them.  So with a sincere and sleepy  _fuck_ _it_ , Axton allowed himself to sleep.

 

Somehow that conversation led to Axton literally taking Gaige underneath his wing.  They fought through bullymongs, avoided answering Handsome Jack on the ECHO, killed some bandits, and eventually landed in Liar's Berg.  They were no military operation, but they were damn good fighters, the six of them.  In Liar's Berg they had a chance to sit down, take a breath, and reassess their plan.

One good thing that came from the journey was that all their stuff was working again.  Zer0 was meditating and turning literally invisible (what the fuck?!) and Maya's siren powers were back to full charge.  Salvador had enough energy to jump into his gunzerking bloodlust and Krieg could fall into his psycho craze.  As for Axton and Gaige, they ended up huddled in the remnants of a mechanic's shop huddling over their machines.

"Third place?!" Axton exclaimed, looking over Deathtrap.  "Seriously?!"

"I know!" Gaige replied with vehemence, slamming her wrench on the table.  "If Marcie's dad hadn't bought out the entire judging team, I totally would've won that science fair!  Anyway, let me see yours."

Axton threw down his turret and she opened up to him, smaller than he remembered.  Then again, a train car explosion would do that.

"That's my baby," he said proudly.  "One Dahl Sabre turret, with some of my own additions, of course."

"Oh, she's beautiful!" Gaige gushed, practically jumping out of her chair and cooing at Axton's turret.

"Yours ain't so bad either," Axton said, looking over Deathtrap.

Gaige beamed and Axton couldn't help but grin back at her.

 

The thing about bullymongs is that they didn't use guns.  Sure, they were massive and threw boulders and cars like confetti, but there were no bullets.  Bandits, on the other hand, had bullets and guns.  Fighting Captain Flynt, unfortunately, was that grim reminder as Axton felt his shield flicker and die.  Then there was searing pain in his arm as a bullet grazed him.

"Motherfucker!" he groaned, reaching into his pack and yanking out an Anshin Health Now pack and stabbing it into his wound.  The skin took to the medicine instantly and healed, no sign of injury left behind.  He was getting sloppy.  If Sarah could see him now, god, she'd have an earful for his sorry ass.

He peeked out from the corner he ducked behind.  Flynt had the entire deck on fire and Krieg was loving it, running through and screaming as he slammed his buzz axe into bandits.  Salvador had his guns out and Maya was using her weird phaselocking thing to bring the bandits in a nice row for him.  Zer0 was no where to be found, but Axton could see bandits falling in severed pieces seemingly out of nowhere.

Axton was hardly about to let his teammates (his friends?) take all the glory.  He stepped out from cover, assault rifle at the ready, and jumped into the fray.

Then Gaige let out the most terrible scream he'd ever heard.

She was cornered by two bandits, Deathtrap fizzling into blue pixels as his time ran out.  Her leg was bleeding and her arm was blistering with burns and there were tear tracks down her cheeks, cutting through the soot on her face.  She looked absolutely terrified, her green eyes wide at the sight of the bandit's gun aimed for her head.

Axton roared with fury and sprinted across the deck, not bothering to shoot, instead tackling the bandit, sending them sprawling on the flaming deck.  He lifted his hatchet and slammed it against the bandit's skull.  Blood poured over the deck, splashing up onto Axton as the bandit went limp beneath him.  He yanked his hatchet out, sending blood flying, ignoring the hot droplets that splattered over his face.

Throwing down his turret to guard him, Axton ran back to Gaige, rummaging through his pack and pockets for another Anshin health kit.

"Easy, kiddo," Axton knelt beside Gaige, pulling out his last Health Now pack.

Gaige whimpered and Axton felt his heart bleed at the sound.  He took her hand in his and jabbed the pack into her leg, injecting the medicine into her bloodstream.  Anshin didn't lie about Health Now and soon Gaige's bleeding stopped and the blisters on her arms went away.  She gasped and her grip on Axton's hand tightened.  She closed her eyes and two fat tears fell down her cheeks.

"Don't call me kiddo," she eventually said, scrubbing at the tear tracks on her cheeks.  "I'm not a goddamn kid."

Axton was so relieved to hear her snark that he actually let out a laugh.  "Shit, Gaige, don't scare me like that."

"It wasn't that bad," Gaige stood up, dusting herself off as if everything was fine, but Axton could see the tremble in her hands.  "I've just never been shot at before, so you know.  First time and all that."

Axton stood up and realized just how quiet it was on the ship.  He turned around and saw Flynt's dead body on the deck with the other four vault hunters standing around him.  They were passing around a pistol and arguing about who was going to take it.  Axton and Gaige joined them and he took it in his hands.  It was orange and practically glowed with elemental energy.  He passed it to Gaige and pressed it in her hands.

"To celebrate you getting shot at," he said.

Gaige holstered it and Axton smiled.

 --

Axton didn't come from a large family, or really any family.  Raised by a distant uncle, Axton grew up without siblings or cousins to play with and big dreams of fortune, glory, and whole cities chanting his name.  He signed up for Dahl when they came to recruit on his planet and never looked back.  Soldiers had fortune and glory and Dahl was a megacorporation with facilities dotted across the six galaxies and a military strong enough to tear down any who stood in their way.  For Axton, it was a sure shot to all his dreams.

Then he met Sarah.  She was strict, a definite by-the-book military commander.  She never fell to any of Axton's charms (unlike all his squad mates) and even had a witty retort for each of them.  She was cold, calculating, and absolutely brutal with a shotgun.  Axton watched her blow up bandits left and right without a hair out of place and something in his chest constricted and he was utterly fucked.

From there it was a sequence of charms, flirts, and proposals that ended with them married and they were happy.  Axton rose to the rank of Sergeant and Sarah led their troop into victory after victory.

But it wasn't enough.

Axton wanted more than just a wife - he wanted a family.  Sure, fortune, glory, cities chanting his name was still his ultimate priority, but some small childhood dream of his involved being surrounded by people that were closer than squad mates, closer than friends.  He wanted children, brothers and sisters, something familial and Sarah never wanted that.  Her first love with the military and Axton knew that.

There was no room for family in the military.

So when Axton went AWOL, wedding ring heavy around his neck, he threw away any daydreams of having a family.  He collected bounties, laughed at his wanted poster, drank and fucked and found the fortune, the glory, the people cheering his name.  But it never filled that hole in his chest of growing up alone and spending his time in a military married to a woman who didn't care for family.  He lied and said that bandit hunting was too easy (which it was, honestly) and that he wanted more.

Then came the vault and five other vault hunters.

 --

Sanctuary lived up to its name.  Sure, it wasn't the shining cities of Hyperion but it definitely wasn't the ramshackle huts of the bandits out in the wilderness.  There were houses, shops, a bar for fuck's sake, and a sense of civilization.  They came to Sanctuary, beaten, bruised, and exhausted with Handsome Jack literally breathing down their necks over the ECHOnet and they were going to take a goddamn break.

It had been a long road to Sanctuary, Axton realized as he sat down on one of the bunks in the Crimson Raider HQ.  His legs ached from being cramped in the Runner for days on end and he was constantly fighting a headache from the cold.  The rest of their group looked the same, even Zer0 seemed to be more slumped over instead of his straight back vigilance he normally had.

"It's good to be safe / Away from harm and danger / But for how long?" Zer0 said softly from his perch on the bunk above Maya's.

"We're going after the Firehawk," Maya said, turning the page in the book she was reading.  "Roland has answers for us, I'm sure of it."

"After we rest," Axton reminded her.  "We've been on the road since Liar's Berg.  We need to rest, assess our weapons and skills, make a plan, work as a team."

There were nods and grunts of various agreement across the group and Axton found himself nodding back at them.  Their time traveling across Three Horns, killing bandits, had brought them together.  Six strangers on a train for glory, stuck on Pandora for better or for worse, but they did it.

 

To his ultimate surprise, Axton found himself becoming fast friends with Zer0.  Gaige had become his little sister, his partner in every sort of crime.  Maya was his second in command.  While he had leadership skills from his stint with Dahl, Maya had an agenda.  She, more than any of them, had a purpose for being on Pandora.  While Axton was off finding jobs and bounties that called to him with promises of loot and explosions, Maya was in deep conversation with Lilith and Roland and even Patrica Tannis about vaults, Eridium, and sirens.  Boring stuff.

So when Axton was asked by Doctor Tannis to go hunt down a splinter group in the Bloodshot stronghold, his first thought was Zer0.  Salvador and Krieg were blowing up bandit furnaces for Claptrap and Gaige was at a party with Tiny Tina - and after Axton's last conversation with Tina, he wasn't about to go back to her place anytime soon.  Besides, Zer0 was a fun companion on these kind of run-and-gun missions.

"Alright, buddy, ready to kill some bandits?" Axton cheered as he jumped into the driver's seat of the runner.

Zer0 didn't move, just folded his arms.

"Are you coming?" Axton prompted.  "Splinter group of rats?  For Tannis?"

"You are not driving," Zer0 said simply.  "I wish to arrive safely / Not mangled and dead."

"Excuse you!" Axton protested, standing up in the car.  "I am an excellent driver!  I drove us all the way to Sanctuary!"

"Bullymong roadkill," Zer0 said instantly.

"Okay," Axton relented.  "I may have hit one or two bullymongs-"

"Everyone in sight," Zer0 corrected.

Axton groaned and threw his hands in the air.  "Fine!" he conceded, jumping into the turret seat.  "Get your weird ass up here and drive then!  I'm gonna tell Maya."

Zer0's helmet flashed a smiley face and he jumped into the runner with a smug air around him.  "Go cry to Maya / Like a child to his mother / But she's on  _my_ side."

Figures.

As they fought through the Bloodshots, Axton remembered exactly why he liked going out on bounties with Zer0 - not including the witty banter.  Their fighting styles just complimented each other.  As Axton and his turret took the bandit fire, Zer0 ran behind the enemies, invisible, and slit their throats.  They made it to the bottom of the hideout with hardly a struggle.

The splinter group, on the other hand, was a little bit tougher to fight.  There were four of them, stronger and faster than the other rats they'd run into, with a habit of jumping in and out of the sewer pipes surrounding their makeshift 'home'.  Axton threw his Tediore shotgun at one of the rats but misjudged how close they were to each other.  The explosion knocked the rat back and took down all of Axton's shields.

Static flickered around his skin as his shield desperately tried to recharge.  He threw down his turret and felt claws dig into his back.  One of the rats jumped on him, screeching in his ear and clawing at his back.  He yelled in pain and desperation, feeling his blood drip down his back.  His vision went fuzzy, head falling limp.

"So delicious!" the rat cried out and Axton collapsed to his knees.  Numb fingers fumbled for his pack, looking for any health packs he might've carried.

The weight on his back was lifted and Axton almost fell backwards.  Strong arms caught him and he fought to keep his eyes open.

"I have you," Zer0 said, pulling out a health pack.  Axton was so far gone he didn't even feel Zer0 jab it into his spine.

He did, however, feel warmth rush through him.  His eyes focused, the world stopped spinning, he could feel his fingers again.  Another jab to his spine and Axton was back on his feet, feeling strong and healthy again.  His turret was still up, shooting the shit out of the rats and Axton decided he could spare another few seconds.  He turned to face Zer0, a little unnerved to see his face reflected in Zer0's helmet, but smiled nonetheless.

"Didn't know you cared," he said.

Zer0's helmet flashed a heart.  A heart!  Axton's smile widened.  Zer0's helmet flickered and a blank face replaced the heart and he tuned away.

"Oh, you can't escape that!" Axton couldn't help but taunt Zer0.  "Your helmet has a heart function!  Oh, my god, wait until I tell Maya!"

Zer0 decapitated the last rat and whipped around to stare at Axton, blood dripping down his sword.  He looked menacing, every bit the mysterious assassin that his wanted posters boasted of, but now Axton knew the truth and he was as giddy as a kid on Mercenary Day.

"Don't tell anyone / This remains between just us / Our secret, Axton."

"Wait until Sal finds out!" Axton burst out.  "Oh, god, he thinks you're a robot on the best of days but when he finds out you give out hearts-"

Axton was cut short with a punch straight to his sternum.  He gasped for breath and knew he was going to have a bruise on his chest from that.

"You!" he managed to say as he tried to catch his breath.

"Oh, what? Yeah, what, bitch? / Yeah, I just slapped you and stuff. / What are you gonna do?"

"You asked for it," Axton growled and he tackled Zer0.

Then landed promptly on the ground.  He spun on the floor and narrowly missed Zer0 jumping where he just was.  He scrambled to his feet and stumbled back from Zer0's as the assassin stalked towards him.

"Dude, using Decepti0n is cheating!" Axton said, tripping over a pizza box and falling on his ass.  "Maybe I'll just throw out my turret and let her chew you up!"

"Scared?" Zer0 lunged forward and planted his foot right on Axton's chest.

Axton was just about to deliver some witty response (no really, he was) but Tannis hailed them on the ECHO and effectively stopped their little spar in its tracks.

"When you have both finished acting like children, please return to me at once!" Tannis snapped, sounding brisk and bored even over the ECHO.  "I have piles of blood money with your name on it.  And no, that is not a figure of speech."

Axton allowed Zer0 to help him up and flashed a sheepish grin.  "Sorry, man.  Kinda got out of control there, huh?"

"There is no harm done / Consider it a challenge / Your strength against mine."

"When we get back to Sanctuary," Axton started.

"A duel between us," Zer0 finished.

"Yeah, as friends," Axton shrugged.

Zer0's helmet flashed the heart again.  Axton laughed and picked up his turret.  They blasted their way out of the Bloodshot stronghold and back to Sanctuary to collect their bounty.  Gaige was waiting impatiently at HQ, arms crossed and foot tapping and eyes narrowed.

"Where the fuck have you been?!" she demanded.

"Language!" Axton scolded.  "I was on a mission with Zer0.  How was Tina's tea party?"

"You went without me?" Gaige looked positively betrayed.  "Axton, how could you?"

Axton rolled his eyes and gave Zer0 a look.  He only flashed a question mark back.  Gaige's eyes flickered between the two of them and she huffed.

"Sure, make a new best friend while I'm gone, see if I care!" Gaige rolled her eyes.  "Maybe I'll take Salvador with me to explore that Eridium mine in the Tundra instead of you, like I was going to and - "

"We are all friends here," Zer0 interrupted her.  "Is that not what teammates are?"

Gaige seemed to deflate, all her huffed up anger dissipating like steam.  "I guess you're right.  In that case, Zer0, do you want to go explore the Eridium mine in the Tundra Express?  Axton doesn't have to come."

Axton spluttered at that, but he couldn't say a word before Zer0 was nodding and the two of them were walking away, discussing slag and Eridium and whether or not Gaige could give Deathtrap an upgrade like Zer0's Decepti0n.  With a huff that was certainly not jealous, he grabbed his money from Tannis and stormed off.


	2. Chapter 2

Axton groaned as the dust settled around him. He could feel it in his lungs, thick and cloying as he tried to breathe. His entire body ached and his skin tingled from the rush of Eridium that had filled the air. Coughing, he sat up and looked into the sky, only to see Sanctuary vanish in a flash of purple-white light.

Well fuck.

Next to him, Salvador was slowing standing up, bracing himself on his assault rifle.

"Well, amigo, now what?" Salvador asked.

As if summoned, Angel appeared to them over the ECHOnet.

"I know you have to reason trust me and that you're angry, but we don't have a lot of time. I'll explain everything along the way."

Salvador and Axton exchanged a look. He didn't trust this AI as far as he could throw his ECHO device and Salvador looked the same.

"Lilith accidentally scattered you and your friends across Three Horns. I detect that she teleported your city somewhere in the Highlands. Go to the Fridge, it's the only way."

"Sounds like we don't have much of a choice," Axton grumbled. He picked up his ECHO device and hailed the others.

For the most part, they were all okay, but definitely scattered. Gaige was with Krieg, somewhere in the Marrowfield. Maya was at the Happy Pig Motel and Zer0 at Southpaw Steam and Power. After much discussion (and a lot of Gaige squealing over Sanctuary flying) they agreed to follow Angel one last time. As Maya put it, she would either lead them back to Sanctuary or not, either way, they had to go somewhere.

Axton digistructed a car for him and Salvador. According to his ECHO, the Fridge was one, maybe two days drive away. Groaning, he settled himself in for another long road trip. Salvador grunted as he jumped into the gunner seat and they were off. They all agreed to meet at the Happy Pig Motel before pushing into the Fridge but the daylight was waning and Axton pulled over reluctantly.

Salvador jumped out and started a fire. Axton pulled out some skag legs to cook and collapsed onto the cold, hard ground.

"I hate road trips," he groaned, stretching his aching legs.

"Could be worse," Salvador said as he skewered the skag legs to roast. "You could be alone."

Axton gave a rough chuckle. "That's true."

They sat in companionable silence for a bit. Axton wondered how Gaige was doing, stuck in the bullymong infested Marrowfield. At least she had Krieg, he would keep her safe. Zer0 probably was at the Motel and Axton couldn't help but wonder if Maya cleaned out the rooms. He wasn't looking forward to staying in the gory remnants that were there before.

Skag meat was tough and chewy at best and tasted like old socks, but it was better than nothing. One day, Axton was gonna learn how to make skag taste like food but for now, he was happy to be eating.

Nights on Pandora were beautiful. Seeing the stars flicker and twinkle in the sky, hearing the fire crackle beside him. Sure, Pandora was filled with monstrous creatures that would eat you sooner than look at you and everyone who ended up on this planet was as tough as nails but in a way, it was beautiful.

Salvador's ECHO rang and jogged Axton out of his musings.

"Abuela!" he cheered, slipping straight into his native language. He rattled off for a few moments and Axton felt a smile creep up his face. Salvador laughed, head thrown back. "Si, Abuela. Te amo."

"Your grandmother?" Axton guessed.

"Si, amigo," Salvador nodded, tucking his ECHO back into his pack. "She worries about me. Ever since Chavez and everyone tried to kill me. I can look out for myself though."

"It's good she cares," Axton said. "You know, like family should."

Salvador grunted and they slipped into silence again, only the sound of the crackling fire breaking the monotony.

"I'll take first watch," Axton eventually said, standing up to stretch. "We got to be ready for anything."

Salvador stood up and laid his bedroll on the ground. Axton pulled out his turret, something to keep him occupied on his watch. Gaige had pointed out he could add a laser sight to help accuracy. He was settling in, ready for a long, chilly night ahead of him, when Salvador came up to him.

"Amigo," he started, voice deep and husky. "We're family too. We've been through too much together to stop us now."

"I know," Axton smiled fondly. "Yeah, I know."

Much to Axton's delight, Maya did clean up the Happy Pig Motel. Without the sacrificial alter, dead bodies, and general bloody gore lying about, it actually looked pretty nice. Vaguely, Axton wondered if this was a decent vacation spot for people before, you know, all the bandits. Angel led them through the Fridge and out on the Highlands - where Sanctuary appeared in a flash of purple light, floating in the sky. After a long fight against a massive thresher, they made their way to a little town called Overlook.

"Can we trust her?" Maya asked as they walked through the deserted streets. "Angel sounded sympathetic enough, but do you think we can trust her?"

"I honestly don't know," Axton shrugged. "You said it yourself, she'll either help or not. And if she does plan on helping, she'd be pretty invaluable. Handsome Jack's own AI working against him - it might be the only way to save this planet."

"I don't think she's an AI," Gaige piped up, skipping up beside Axton, casually holding her rifle over her shoulder. "She doesn't feel like an AI to me."

"Well then, what is she?" Maya asked.

"I dunno," Gaige shrugged cheerfully. "I'm excited to find out though!"

At the center of town, Zer0 placed the lunar supply beacon. Almost immediately there were loaders crashing around them, trying to destroy the beacon.

"Protect the beacon!" Angel cried out. "I'll see what I can do to speed up the delivery."

Easier said than done. With each wave, Handsome Jack grew more and more furious, sending in constructors and badass loaders as Angel pulled every string she had (included death threats) to speed up the delivery. Axton let himself fall into the heat of battle, forgetting everything except for the next loader bot, the next enemy. He and Krieg went charging down the street, bashing into loaders and keeping them far from the beacon.

Something hit the ground, shaking the town and Angel shouted in victory as the fast travel station landed right in the middle of Overlook. Salvador gestured for Maya and Gaige to use it first, both of them disappearing in a flash of pixels. Axton shouted for Salvador to go next. He tossed a few grenades to Axton before taking the fast travel.

"Go!" Axton pushed Krieg towards to fast travel station. Zer0 took the fast travel but not before flashing a sad face at Axton. "I'll hold them off, just go!"

"NOT GOING ALONE!" Krieg shouted, his massive hand grabbing Axton's shoulder.

"I'll be right behind you!" Axton promised. "We can't let Hyperion find out what Sanctuary's fast travel code is!"

"Lost her, lost her, lost her!" Krieg didn't let go. "She won't lose you! I won't let her!"

Axton didn't have a choice but to let Krieg drag him to the fast travel. But all Axton could think of is what would happen if Hyperion found Sanctuary. This was different than the moonshots, which just bounced off the shield, this would be Hyperion soldiers appearing right in the center of Sanctuary.

"Krieg, we need to kill these loaders or else they're going to find Sanctuary and it'll all be for nothing!" Axton said. "You go to Sanctuary, warn them, I'll stay here."

Krieg stopped, turned around and hefted his shotgun. "Blood to save the blue!"

Well, it looked like Krieg was staying for the long run. It took only a few more minutes to destroy the rest of the loaders and soon enough, Axton and Krieg were standing in field of destroyed robot parts. Axton leaned up against Krieg, catching his breath.

"Thanks dude," Axton said. "We need to get to Sanctuary, make sure everything is okay."

"The flesh is satisfied for now," Krieg nodded.

For being a city that just teleported miles away and was now flying, it looked great. All the stores were still intact, the people were alive, the Crimson Raiders were all in one piece. Axton let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and a weight lifted off his shoulders. Something settled in his chest, peaceful and relaxing.

Home, he realized. He was home.

"You skaglicking son of a bitch!" Gaige shouted, punching Axton hard on the arm with her metal arm.

"Ow!" Axton complained. "What the hell, Gaige?!"

"You and your goddamn glory hunting!" she punched him again.

"Would you stop punching me?" Axton dodged another punch.

"Ugh, I can't believe you!" she finally stormed off.

Axton gaped, turning to Maya and Salvador, both of them looking very unimpressed. Even Zer0 looked upset, hunched over and helmet flashing ellipses. Maya gently took Krieg by the elbow and led him away. Axton turned to the other two.

"Roland wants to see you," Salvador said gruffly.

He and Zer0 left without a second glance and Axton was stuck in the station alone and confused. He had just saved their lives and hardly a 'thanks' from any of them! If he hadn't stayed back to kill all the loaders then Hyperion would be walking up and down the streets of Sanctuary! He was a goddamn hero and everyone was treating him like he did something wrong.

Upset and bitter, Axton stomped to the HQ hoping that maybe Roland would be happy to see him. Upstairs in the conference room was Lilith and Roland, no sign of Mordecai.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Axton said, instinctively standing at military attention. Something about Roland brought out the soldier in Axton, as faint and buried as that part of him was.

"No need for formalities, soldier," Roland said and Axton relaxed. "The others told me what you did at Overlook, staying behind to protect the fast travel station. That was very brave of you, Axton."

"Thank you."

"But it was also stupid," Lilith chimed in.

Roland sighed. "I was getting there, Lilith."

Axton shook his head. "Excuse me? Stupid? Roland, I was protecting Sanctuary. Those loaders could have seen us enter the code and fast traveled here. Hyperion would have been on our literal doorstep. I had to stop them."

"There's no arguing against that," Roland agreed. "But you didn't have to do it alone. You have a team, soldier, let them help you."

"And watch them die?" Axton slammed his hands on the table. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I got enough of it in the military, thanks."

Roland opened his mouth but Lilith stopped him with a hand on his arm. He took a step back, gesturing for her to talk. Axton ground his teeth together. Surely these two vault hunters knew what Axton was talking about - they fought Crawmerax and the Crimson Lance and became as close as family, couldn't they see where he was coming from?

"What about the ones you leave behind?" Lilith said. "Gaige was pitching a fit to shake all of Sanctuary and if Salvador hadn't held her back, she would've gone back for you. You keep your group together, Axton. Maya, Salvador, Zer0, even Krieg - they're a strong group but they won't succeed without their leader - without you."

Axton looked down, he couldn't handle the look Lilith was giving him, pity and fondness mixed together. Maybe she was right, maybe he'd been a little reckless, a little foolish, but Axton loved this ragtag group and he would die before seeing them get hurt. He'd seen Gaige bleeding out on the Soaring Dragon. He watched Maya get cornered by three bullymongs. Zer0 almost had his arm ripped off from a badass psycho and Salvador had broken a leg in a den of spiderants. Krieg had too many brushes with death, from getting hit by a technical in the Dust to falling down a cliff in the Tundra.

Each time Axton saw one of his teammates in danger (one of his friends) his heart ran cold. He couldn't lose them. He wouldn't.

"Just think about it," Roland finally said. "Get the rest of your team together, we might have a way to beat Jack."

 

Moxxxi's was surprisingly empty considering the time of night. It was usually filled with people unwinding at the end of a long day, counting bounties, playing slots or darts, bragging about their kills. Tonight though, everyone was in the center of town, drinking some freshly stolen rakkale and holding a vigil for Bloodwing.

Bloodwing. Axton took another drink, wincing at the burn. God that wasn't how anything was supposed to go. If Axton didn't already have it out for Jack, what he did to Bloodwing definitely would've tipped the scales. Not to mention what happened to Krieg. Poor guy was the result of slag testing gone wrong. And Tina...

Axton needed more alcohol.

He stood up, wobbly on his feet, and wandered to the bar, handing out another wad of cash to Moxxi.

"Careful, sugar," she said, sliding a new bottle across the bar. "You'll drink yourself to death."

Axton grunted and took a hefty swig. He had hoped that the six of them storming the Wildlife Exploitation Preservation together would've eased the tension between him and the rest of his team, but instead it made things worse. Gaige had avoided every one of his jokes, talking to Salvador or Zer0 instead. Maya gave him clipped, one word answers to his questions and even Krieg was avoiding him. It had been awkward and Axton hated every bit of it.

"'M not a hero," he slurred, letting his head fall onto the bar. "Can' ev'n keep my fr'ends."

"Oh, sugar, don't beat yourself up," Moxxi said, her voice foggy and far away. Axton blearily opened her eyes to see her looking down on him with pity. "Vault hunters want glory, it's part of the job."

"Wan' more," Axton mumbled. "Fam'ly."

"Oh, hun."

"'Nd though' they were. Fam'ly. Could coun' on 'em. Don' wan' 'em to ge' hurt."

Axton's eyes felt heavy. He could hear the sobbing from the vigil as Lilith said a few words about Bloodwing. He wondered if Krieg was there. Gaige was probably the one sobbing, she had damn near broken down in the middle of Preserve. He should go to her, hold her and offer her comfort. Tell her everything was going to be okay. They were gonna kill Jack and avenge Bloodwing.

But they weren't talking. Axton messed that up.

"Messed it up," he said. "Messed it all up."

"Now that's just a defeatist attitude," Moxxi chided him. "Go apologize to your friends. You can fix this."

Yeah, yeah he could! Axton fought to open his eyes, even though the entire bar was fuzzy and spinning. He was gonna do this. He was gonna fix whatever he did wrong, apologize or whatever, and they were going to be good again. Friends, family, again.

Walking was, unfortunately, stupid hard and Axton only managed to stumble out of the bar before collapsing onto a bench. He closed his eyes against the nausea in his gut and the spinning city. He could hear Maya singing in some foreign language and passed out.

Axton woke up with a cottony mouth, a blinding headache, and feeling over-heated. He peeked out from half-lidded eyes and saw a familiar dark figure standing beside where he was lying prone on a bench. He rolled over and vomited all over the ground. At least he felt a little better after that, though he still couldn't stand the sunlight and his sergeant insignia felt like it was stabbing his forehead worse than normal.

"The fuck?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes as Zer0 came into focus.

"Oh good, you're not dead," Zer0 said, moving to sit beside Axton. "You never came home last night / and we feared the worst."

"Surprised you're talking to me," Axton groused. "Thought y'all were pretty pissed."

Zer0 shrugged. "You have been reckless. / We only worry for you. / Just like you worry."

"I guess I've been a bit of a dick."

"Yes."

"I just..." Fuck it was hard to think with his head pounding. "I can't watch you guys get hurt."

"And we can't abandon you, amigo."

Axton turned to his left and saw Salvador sitting on the bench, his feet carefully avoiding the vomit on the ground. He looked the same, perhaps a little deeper bags underneath his eyes. Salvador continued, "Remember mi abuela? I saved her from bandits once and she keeps an ear out for me. Always stops any pendejos from trying to kill me. I want to keep her safe but I know I have to live for her too, yeah?"

"Um, sure?" Axton tried to understand but his hangover was kind of in the way.

Someone stuck a drink in front of him. It was steaming and looked kind of disgusting. Axton took it and noticed the blue tattoos swirling up the hand.

"From Moxxi," Maya gestured to the bar behind them. "She said you got pretty hammered and swears by this."

"It looks like sewage," Axton grumbled before downing the drink in one, putrid, gulp. It tasted like sewage too but his headache dulled and he felt a little less like hell. Maya took the cup back and fiddled with it.

"I'm not good at this," she eventually said. "I was revered as a god on Athenas, or a demon depending on if the Order liked you or not. Anyway, I didn't have much time for friends or family or any close relationships. This though, what we have, all of us, is good. It feels good and it feels right and it killed me to abandon you at Overlook. Look, team, friends, whatever we have, it's good, Axton. Don't throw it away for your own selfish glory."

Axton felt stunned. All this time he had grown fond of his little group of vault hunters and he didn't see them grow fond right back. He didn't notice that they cared for him just as much as he cared for them. He wouldn't dare leave anyone in the middle of a battlefield and he realized that they wouldn't either.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Maya grinned. "Oh."

Axton stood up, ignoring how his head was spinning and the nausea rising in the back of his throat. He had to find Gaige, find her and apologize for being such an idiot.

"Whoa, amigo!" Salvador caught him as he stumbled. "You need to sleep before you start running."

"Gaige," Axton said. "I gotta find her."

"She's not here," Maya said, grabbing Axton's other arm. "She and Krieg are running a job for Ellie."

"I gotta..." Axton mumbled as his eyes dropped. "Gotta fix it."

"C'mon," Salvador said. "You need to sleep off the hangover, amigo. We'll bring Gaige to you, okay?"

"Okay, okay," Axton agreed, letting himself be carried down the street.

When he woke up again, Axton was in the little home they had appropriated for themselves. It was small for six of them but they made it work. There was a downstairs with a small kitchen and tiny living space and upstairs had four rooms and the bathroom. He felt more human this time around and it was dark outside. His stomach growled.

Opening his eyes, Axton rolled out of his bed. He climbed down the stairs and into the tiny kitchen, looking for something to eat. If he remembered right, Maya bought some strips of skag jerky. Half awake, he rifled through the cupboards until he found it.

"Jackpot," he muttered to himself, tearing into the jerky.

The floor creaked behind him. Axton turned around, jerky dangling out of his mouth. It was Gaige, dressed in an oversized shirt and her hair hanging down. She sleepily rubbed her eyes and squinted at Axton.

"Move."

Axton moved.

Gaige filled up a cup from the sink and Axton swallowed. He hadn't talked to her much since she shouted and punched him days ago. He realized suddenly how much he missed her, the sister he never had.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, just trying to break the silence. Gaige grunted and Axton kept talking. "I shouldn't have been a hero, it wasn't fair to any of you."

"Damn straight it wasn't," Gaige grumbled.

"I want to make it right," Axton said. "I miss how things used to be and I'm tired of fighting. So... I'm sorry."

Gaige set her cup in the sink. "I'm an only child. That's kinda why I built DT. But since coming here, you know, spending time with you guys, I feel like you become my big brother. And watching you stand your ground against dozens of loaders and not knowing if you were going to make it... Axton, you scared the shit out of me, out of all of us."

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that," Axton said.

"Save some glory for the rest of us, you know?" Gaige turned and gave a soft grin.

"Only a little," Axton grinned back.

Gaige laughed a little and stepped closer to Axton, resting her head on his chest. Axton didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her and pull her into a hug. It felt good to hold her this close, to take this base comfort.

"We good?" Axton mumbled into her hair.

"Yeah, we're good," Gaige whispered back.

"Hugging time!"

Axton couldn't brace himself in time for Krieg running into them, picking them both up in a huge, bone-breaking hug. Axton laughed and felt like everything had fallen back into place again.


	3. Chapter 3

The Caustic Caverns were beautiful and threatening and deadly, kinda like everything else on this damn planet. Everything glowed green with acid fallout and even the creatures seemed to be a little mutated from their time there. Giant crystalisks, spiderants, varkids, and threshers were only some of the dangerous of the Caverns. Right next to giant pits filled with acid.

They were in this dumbass Caverns for a stupid quest from Marcus and another, ridiculous creature hunt for Hammerlock. Axton was hoping for big guns in the chest and didn't even want to do that stupid thing for Hammerlock but Gaige had made big moon eyes when Hammerlock smiled at her and, well, that was that.

"I don't know why you even like that Hammerlock dude," Axton grumbled as they settled into the deep bowls of Dahl's mining operation. Other than the bloodstains and suspicious bones, it was actually pretty cozy and definitely the safest place in the entire Caverns. They had a small fire going and the sounds of spiderants screeching in the distance was almost soothing.

"He is a gentleman," Gaige said, rather affronted, sliding to the opposite side of the fire from Axton, her eyes narrowed. "Something you don't understand, I'm sure."

"Excuse me, I am absolutely a gentlemen!"

Maya scoffed and Salvador chuckled, even Krieg let out a little laugh. Axton felt utterly betrayed. His friends completely backstabbing him and ignoring how much of a gentleman he could be.

"Anyway, Gaige, you go hunt down the stupid crystalisks and I'm gonna find the chest full of loot," Axton said.

"I'm with him," Salvador grinned, settling himself beside Axton.

"As am I," Zer0 planted himself on the other side of Axton, who beamed at them both.

"I think it would be interesting to learn how the crystalisks became so volatile," Maya said. "I'll go with Gaige."

"We shall have a great time without you then!" Gaige said, sticking her tongue out at Axton. "Maya and I will have some quality girl time."

"I go with the blue and metal!" Krieg exclaimed, slamming himself between the girls. "Meat and flesh for slaughter!"

Gaige raised an eyebrow at Axton, smirking faintly. Oh, if that's how it was gonna be, that's how it was gonna be. Axton matched Gaige's smirk and raised his own eyebrow. A fantastic idea came to him.

"Okay, kiddo, how about a bet?" Axton said. "First group back to Sanctaury wins?"

"You're on, old man!" Gaige reached over and shook his hand. "We're going to find out what happened here and you gotta find some stupid chest."

"A chest that's probably full of guns!" Salvador cheered.

"Guns have nothing on knowledge," Maya said sagely. "After our quest we'll understand these creatures more and you'll just have guns."

"I'll take guns any day."

"Wait, wait," Axton said. "What's the loser gonna do? Gotta have some consequence, right?"

Gaige and Maya exchanged a glance that was laced with meaning and Axton felt suddenly very nervous. He glanced over at Salvador, who only hummed and shrugged. He glanced to Zer0, who flashed a question mark on his helmet. Axton tried to think of what the girls in high school used to do as dares and could only think of two things - something painful or something gay.

And while Axton wasn't against getting down with dudes, he had a feeling Salvador would eat his face before showing any physical affection. And Zer0, alien or robot or whatever, would just make things weird. So maybe it was something stupid and gross, like eat a varkid or drink Moxxi's special brew.

"When we win, you boys have to give us the first legendary you find."

Salvador jumped to his feet, shouting something in his native language and brandishing his gun around. Zer0's helmet flashed a sequence of angry faces. Maya and Gaige looked completely undisturbed and didn't flinch as Salvador flipped them both off furiously.

"Now ladies, that's a bit harsh," Axton said quickly. "What if the first legendary we find isn't one you like? Zer0's not gonna let go of a sniper rifle, c'mon!"

"Just win," Gaige shrugged. "Unless you're chicken?"

"Fine!" Axton said. "When we win you have to give us your legendary!"

"How original," Maya laughed.

"I am very original!" Axton said, ignoring how much he sounded like a pouting child.

"Okay, legendaries are on the table," Gaige said. "We'll start in the morning! Good luck, boys."

By morning the nervous tension between the two groups broke. Gaige put an EMP on Axton's turret, effectively frying it for the next 24 hours. Zer0 broke the ladder leading out of their camp, forcing the others to go out the door into the hivemind of spiderants in retaliation. Axton, Zer0 and Salvador came up to the surface and Axton was shaking with nervous energy.

The ECHO couldn't pinpoint the chest but it led them to the Oozing Discharge. Axton spent the next hours jumping from island to island, avoiding the acid pits and glaring at Zer0 as he made each jump with ease - goddamn alien.

"Ugh, acid!" Salvador groaned as he slipped into an acid puddle. His shields flickered as they absorbed most of the damage

Axton grabbed Salvador and hauled him onto the big island, miles from shore. His shields were still intact even as the acid bubbled around Salvador's legs.

"I hate this place," he grumbled, kicking his feet dry.

"Just think of the loot," Axton suggested. "Marcus's chest is gonna be full of guns, we're gonna beat the others and win their legendaries too. And then we'll never come back here ever."

Zer0, who had been standing on a ledge, shouted down at them, an exclamation point flashing on his helmet.

"I have found the chest!"

Axton and Salvador climbed the cliffside, only slipping once or twice, and hauled themselves up beside Zer0.

"Where is it, buddy?" Axton asked, lifting up his rifle and looking down the scope.

"In the blue crystals," Zer0 said, firing a bullet close to it.

Axton zeroed in on the chest. It was a big chest, definitely full of guns then, and it looked like it had landed right inside the blue crystals, embedded into them in fact. It was in the center of a clearing, the opposite side dropped in a sheer cliff. Easy enough then, run down, grab the loot, and run back up to Sanctuary.

"We open it together," Axton said. "If anything comes at us, we take the goods and run."

"It's a solid plan," Zer0 agreed. "One to assure victory / against the others."

"Let's do this!" Salvador jumped down the cliff, running for the chest with utter abandon.

Axton and Zer0 were close behind.

Then the chest moved. The entire thing of crystals moved, shifted as something emerged out of the dirt. Axton swallowed as a massive crystalisk stood in front of them, easily towering over any other crystalisk Axton had seen. It looked fucking pissed and its blue crystals crackled with electricity.

"Shit!" Axton dived behind a rock, narrowly avoiding a crystal that it shot at him.

"Hijo de puta!" Salvador shouted. Axton peered out over the rock and saw that Salvador had gone into his bloodlust craze, two assualt rifles in hand and he peppered the blue crystalisk with bullets. "Come at me, pendejo!"

Axton instinctively reached for this turret and felt an electric shock jolt through his fingers. Right, Gaige's EMP. Still, he wasn't about to sit this fight out. Axton hefted up his bandit launcher and stood up, firing at the crystalisk's leg.

The crystals exploded in a shower of blue and electricity and the crystalisk stumbled. Salvador ran forward and slammed his entire body into the second leg, electric sparking across his shields as the crystals shattered. The ground shook and three more crystalisks appeared, yellow crystals catching the light and flashing into Axton's eyes. One of them charged Salvador, destroying his shield and sending him flying across the island.

Even from where he was standing, Axton saw Salvador hit the ground hard, head cracking on the rocks.

"Die, badass," Zer0 suddenly appeared by the third leg, sword already halfway into the crystals.

Though it was a strong attack, the crystals didn't shatter and the blue crystalisk kicked Zer0, sending the assassin flying through the sky. Zer0 flipped elegantly in the air and landed on his feet, skidding backwards though the dirt. At once, all four of the crystalisks turned to Axton. He swallowed thickly and fired three quick shots off his rocket launcher.

The three yellow crystalisks were all hit, falling backwards with the explosion. One of them collapsed in a shower of crystals, one stumbled and fell off the cliff, and the third one crashed into the blue crystalisk, destroying the crystals on its third leg. Just a few more hits and it would be dead. Stomping in fury, the big blue crystalisk took a step backwards, narrowly missing Salvador's unconscious body.

Panic surged through Axton as he dropped his laucher and sprinted across the little battlefield. If Salvador was crushed underneath the crystalisk, there would be nothing left of him to save. Dr. Zed was good and Anshin had saved Axton from death's door many times, but miracle medicine could only go so far.

There was a flash next to him and Axton saw Zer0 lunge forward, using Decepti0n to propel him underneath the crystalisk. He grabbed Salvador and dragged him away from the danger. The crystalisk turned to Axton, lifting up its weird body and slamming it to the ground. Axton swore as he flew backwards from the shock wave, he tumbled across the ground before crashing into the cliff behind him.

Then, to his utter astonishment, the damn crystalisk grew back its crystals.

"Zer0!" Axton shouted, ignoring the pain in his chest. Probably just some bruised ribs. "Zee, is Sal okay?"

"Don't worry, he's fine," Zer0 replied, his voice tighter than normal. "What about the crystalisk? / We need to act fast."

"Yeah, yeah," Axton gingerly stood up, hefting his rifle and changing his grenade mod. "Break the crystals and finish it off before they regrow."

"I've tucked Salvador / away from all the danger. / Let's kill this creature."

With renewed energy, Axton threw a grenade right beneath the crystalisk. An explosive MIRV courtesy of Torgue that caught the crystalisk's legs and sent it into a fury. Zer0 jumped into the air, sword extended, and slammed it into the creature. The crystalisk howled and shook Zer0 off. Axton unloaded an entire clip into it and nothing happened, other than the crystalisk getting annoyed and turning to Axton.

Zer0 ran up next to Axton and together, the two of them attacked the remaining crystals. The electricity shot through their shields and Axton felt crystals fly by him, catching his clothes and skin and making the hair on his head stand up. The metal in his head tingled across his forehead and Axton ignored the pain that shot in his skull. They shot, stabbed, and shot some more and eventually the big blue crystalisk fell over in a dead heap.

"This better be worth it," Axton said, trying desperately to catch his breath.

From behind them, Salvador groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Axton flinched when he saw Salvador's hand painted red with blood.

"Oi, amigos," Salvador grunted, standing unsteadily on his feet. "What did I miss?"

Axton was so relieved that Salvador was speaking he very nearly collapsed onto the ground. Zer0, thankfully, was still coherent enough to run to Salvador and jab a health pack into his neck. Salvador gave a short yell but color returned to his cheeks and he jumped up as good as new.

"You killed him without me?" Salvador looked at the dead crystalisk.

"You were unconscious," Zer0 said.

"You almost died, bro," Axton added on. "You open the chest, Sal. You get first pick of the loot."

The three of them gathered by the chest, still stuck in the blue crystals. Salvador didn't hesitate to throw open the chest and a shower of money flew out. Axton was momentary distracted by collecting money before he turned back to the chest. His mind was running a millions miles a minute thinking of what kind of great guns Marcus would keep in this chest. Legendary Vladof assault rifles or Jakobs sniper rifles, Axton couldn't wait.

"Is that..." Zer0 started.

"Hijo de puta," Salvador said. "I'm gonna kill that fucking pendejo!"

Axton put an arm around Salvador, peered around Zer0 and let out an embarrassingly loud gasp.

"Oh, my fucking, god," Axton said. "Is that... that's what I think it is?"

Inside the chest were dozens of pictures of Moxxi in various pinup positions and varying levels of nudity. It was like Mercenary Day had come early. The grabbed the pictures and ran from the Caustic Caverns. They had the pictures, promise of loot, and they were going to win this goddamn competition! The only question was whether they bring the pictures to Moxxi or Marcus. Salvador wanted to give them to Moxxi, payback for a lousy quest, but Zer0 and Axton wanted a decent gun from this acid filled excursion and, in the end, they won.

Marcus was more than grateful for their help and gave them all a shiny relic for their troubles.

Axton felt proud that he didn't punch a wall until after they left the shop.

"That is bullshit!" Axton punched the wall again, ignoring his knuckles bruising. "All that for nothing. God help me, those girls have better found a legendary that we get to steal."

"Speaking of the girls / why haven't they arrived yet?" Zer0 looked down the streets of Sanctuary. "Unless they got hurt."

"They're probably fine," Salvador waved off Zer0's concern. "Krieg won't let anything happen to them."

"Might as well wait at Moxxxi's until they come back," Axton shrugged. "Take a load off, grab a few beers."

They wandered into their usual booth in the corner, Salvador swiping a few beers and a bottle of whiskey on his way. Axton slid into his seat and pulled out his ECHO device, looking over the briefing from Roland on how to stop Jack. Step two was to talk to the Slab King, some bandit warlord in Thousand Cuts who had history with Roland. Axton heard of Thousand Cuts from some of the Crimson Raiders, a bandit town on a cliff across from a giant Hyperion bunker.

It wouldn't be easy, Axton knew, fighting across bandit town to talk to this Slab King. He was hoping that this bandit warlord would at least listen to them before shooting them senseless.

Axton chugged his beer, letting the alcohol warm through him. Pandoran booze was much stronger than the stuff he got in the army and he could already feel his face going slightly numb. He looked up at the sight of blue hair and grinned at the sight of Maya, Gaige, and Krieg talking to Hammerlock.

"Hey! Losers!" Axton stood up, only wobbling a little bit. "Over here!"

The three of them turned, stopping to grab some rakk ale, before trudging to their table. Gaige wiped her cheeks, even though more tears slipped down her cheeks. Maya looked similarly shaken and even Krieg was somber. It was enough for Axton to sober up. He slid over, letting Gaige slide next to him, resting her head on the table as she let out a quivering breath.

"Did someone die?" Salvador broke the silence. "I thought you were doing the killing."

Maya tore the top of the bottle of rakk ale and drank half of it. Axton sat up straighter. Maya was a complete lightweight, couldn't hold her liquor for nothing. For someone who hated the abbey she was raised in, Maya lived a life of meditation and serenity and claimed that alcohol ruined her judgement. Axton had never seen her drink with this much abandon.

"We found out why the crystalisks are so pissy," Gaige mumbled. "Worst. Story. Ever."

Slowly, drunkenly, the story came out of Maya with occasional additions from Gaige. Once the crystalisks were peaceful, as docile as kittens, and Officer Booth of Dahl and her security team befriended a big blue crystalisk. In an effort to save the creatures, Booth suggested they move the ship. Then Dahl's mining operations got too greedy and started harvesting the crystals from the crystalisks and sent them into a rampage.

"Remember where we camped?" Gaige said. "That's where... that's where they all died."

"You said..." Axton swallowed. "You said there was a blue one?"

"Yes," Maya said. "It's probably still down there, wanting revenge for what happened to its friends."

Axton felt something twist in his gut. He knew about the mining operation, remembered standing at attention for hours while they sent off the ship to Pandora to go mine crystals. Shit, Axton knew Elyse Booth, ran into her a couple of times. She had a heart of gold, far too good for the military. Probably why she stayed in security.

And Axton killed her pet crystalisk.

"Anyway, enough of this," Gaige sat up straight with a heavy sigh. She put on a fake smile and elbowed Axton. "How was your quest? Didja find the guns?"

"Not exactly guns," Axton said. "Buncha pinup pictures of Moxxi though."

"And a blue crystalisk!" Salvador cheered, slamming his beer on the table, the liquid sloshing over the edges.

The air went frigid and Axton spared a glance over at Maya and Gaige. Their eyes were wide and mouths open. Krieg made a noise like a wounded animal and walked out of the bar waving his buzz axe around.

"You killed Blue?" Gaige's voice was very small as her eyes went glassy with tears.

It felt like a sucker punch to the gut and Axton winced at the whimper Gaige let out. Salvador, unfortunately, didn't catch on.

"I didn't, bastard knocked me out cold. But these two badasses did!"

Maya stood up quickly, her chair scraping against the wood floor. Her tattoos were glowing faintly and her hands were clenched in tight fists. Axton expected her to unleash her siren powers on them, evaporating them into dust or maybe phaselocking them forever. He braced himself for something, a punch or her pure siren power, and it never came. She looked at them with bright blue eyes and walked after where Krieg went.

Turning to Gaige, Axton fully expected her to walk away.

"He would've killed us first," Axton said weakly. "I swear, Gaige, if there was any sign of peacefulness in them, I wouldn't kill any of these crystalisks. You know that I wouldn't."

"I know," Gaige whispered. "They hate humans. I just... I wish we could tame them again."

"Maybe one day," Axton reached an arm around Gaige, pulling her into a loose hug.

"I'm sorry, mi amigo," Salvador reached across the table and patted Gaige's hand. "This is a kill or be killed planet and that leaves scars."

"Eloquently put," Zer0 nodded. "We did not cause this problem / but we live with it."

Gaige brushed the tears away and shook her head. "This is why robots are better than people," she said in a much firmer voice, sounding like a vault hunter again. "See, Deathtrap wouldn't dare hurt something innocent."

Axton lifted up his beer in a toast - to Blue.


	4. Chapter 4

Thousand Cuts was on a literal cliff side.  Homes and huts were built on the cliff, decorated with skeletons and corpses in typical bandit fashion.  Slab Town was fairly populated and in constant vigilance against Hyperion.

They fought their way to the top of the mountain, up to the buzzard factory where the Slab King waited.

"Oh, I forgot," Roland hailed them on the ECHOnet.  "The Slab King won’t talk to you unless you're part of his gang, so don't die."

"That's awesome!" Gaige crowed, waving her gun around.  "We're gonna be part of a bandit clan!  Did you hear that DT?"

The robot purred in reply.  Krieg made a roar of agreement and the two of them ran across the Broke Face Bridge.  Axton couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight of Gaige laughing and shooting bandits - it was far better than her moping around Sanctuary.

Inside the buzzard factory, The Slab King was sat on a throne with a metal helmet covering his face.  He shouted and bandits came pouring out the walls.

The slabs didn't mess around and it was a tough fight.  Badass goliaths and psychos charged at them and at one point, Axton accidentally cornered himself and it was only because of Salvador's quick fingers that he escaped at all.

When the battle ended the six of them were gathered in front of the King, panting and bleeding.  He stood up, slowly clapping, and Axton braced himself for another fight.  He was one man, but he looked like one punch would take down Krieg.

"I just gotta say," he jumped down, grabbing a massive hammer on his way down.  Axton took a step back, reaching for his turret, but the Slab King only tore off his helmet.  "That was awesome!  So whatchu want?"

Maya stepped forward and handed him the note, "It's from Roland, from Sanctuary."

His eyes went wide and he gently took the note from Maya.  Something about him seemed famliliar but Axton couldn't figure it out.  The Slab King hefted his hammer and smiled.

The smile is what hit it for Axton.  The Crimson Raiders HQ was cold and impersonal, a hub for Roland's operation against Handsome Jack, there wasn't much in the way of personal things except for Lilith's corner which was filled with pictures from her old vault hunting days.

Axton vividly remembered the picture, Lilith and three men in the middle of a Pandoran desert.  They had looked so young and vibrant, Lilith, Roland, Mordecai and a man named Brick.  The man standing in front of them now.

Suspicions were quickly confirmed as Brick told them about how he got kicked out of Sanctuary after losing his cool when the Sheriff of Lynchwood killed his puppy.  But they were friends, even after all this time, and Brick honored that.

Axton reached out for the fast travel, punching in Sanctuary's code.  Before he could accept the fast travel, Salvador grabbed his arm.

"Let's go to Lynchwood," Salvador said.  "Pay the Sheriff a visit."

"You mean kill her," Maya said.

"A good Pandoran visit," Salvador shrugged.

"Is this about the puppy?" Axton asked.

Salvador bristled, and Axton, even towering over him, took a step back.

"I know, it’s Pandora, planet of bandits and murder, but we have rules,” Salvador explained in a tight voice.  "Puppies fall under that rule."

"Sal has a point," Gaige said.  "This Sheriff didn't just kill a random skag pup, but tortured Brick by murdering his dog.  That's pretty sick."

"Besides, haven't you wanted to go to Lynchwood since we drove by the train station?" Maya pointed out.  "You nagged Ellie over the ECHO for weeks."

"That's not the point."

"Then it's settled!" Maya said cheerfully, reaching over Axton to punch in the Fast Travel code for The Dust.  "Let's go to Lynchwood."

 

Just as Ellie promised, Lynchwood was upgraded from bandit settlement to bandit town.  The Sheriff got it as a gift from Handsome Jack, her boyfriend apparently.  There were stores, a bank, and hundreds of rules.

They spent a few hours running around main street, killing bandits and causing general mayhem.  Krieg almost got run over by the train before Salvador pulled him to safety.  It was quaint and almost reminded Axton of the neighboring town from where he grew up.  Gaige called them over to her, standing by an abandoned shipping crate.

“I just... I heard something inside,” she gestured.  “It sounded like an animal.”

Salvador knelt by the crate and slowly crept towards it, letting out soft whispers and whistles.  Slowly, out came a little skag pup, chained to the crate and whining in pain as it limped out to the sun.

Axton shouted and jumped back, lifting up his pistol.

“Dude!” Gaige pushed Axton.  “It’s a puppy!  Don’t tell me you were gonna shoot the puppy.”

“He’s hurt,” Salvador said from where he was kneeling beside the skag, tearing off the cuff from its leg.  “Outgrew his chain.”

“I saw a doctor shop in the town,” Maya suggested, already taking a few steps back.

“Whoa, whoa, wait!” Axton said.  “Are we really going to help this skag?  They’re awful creatures, Sal!  It’s gonna eat your face off, just you wait!”

“Crazy Earl has a pet skag,” Gaige piped up.  “Skrappy?  He’s adorable.  Maybe this one isn’t so bad either.”

“Dukino,” Salvador said.  He was sitting on the ground now with the skag on his lap, stroking its sides.  “His name is Dukino.”

Gaige practically melted beside Axton.  He rolled his eyes and slammed his pistol back into its holster.  Honestly, some days he felt like he was toting around a group of children with how they acted on these quests.

“No!” Axton groaned.  “Once you name it, you’re gonna get attached to it!”

Maya was already next to Salvador, eagerly rubbing the skag’s stomach with a grin and Axton knew he lost this damn battle.

“If you will wait here / I shall collect medicine. / He may prove friendly.”

Axton could only gape as Zer0 ran off to the town, turning invisible halfway towards the buildings.

“He’s probably hungry too,” Maya pointed out.  She turned to Krieg who immediately softened underneath her gaze.  “Can you grab some food from town?”

“FLESH!” Krieg nodded furiously.  He hefted his buzz axe and ran off.

“Aw, he’s so cute!” Gaige laughed as the skag licked her face.  “Dad never let me keep any pets.”

“I never had any pets either,” Maya said.  “The abbey claimed it would distract me from my ‘true calling’ or something.

“I once had a dog,” Salvador said softly, his hands stroking the skag’s sides.

“This isn’t a dog, guys!” Axton said.  “It’s a skag!”

“Dukino, bite him.”

The skag made a move towards Axton, whining and limping as it tried to follow Salvador’s instructions.

“Oh, shit, don’t,” Axton groaned and knelt next to the whining skag, putting a hand on its flank.  “Dude, stop whining.”

Dukino licked him.

“Oh, fuck, gross!”

Salvador chuckled as Axton wiped his hand off.  “He likes you, amigo.”

“Great,” Axton rolled his eyes.  “Just what I wanted, a hurt skag puppy to like me.”

“Imagine if we could train him!” Gaige exclaimed.  “He’d be like our mascot!  We could take him on quests with us and he could _eat our enemies!_ ”

Zer0 ran up next to Axton, holding out a handful of puppy medicine for Salvador.  Stroking Dukino’s head, Salvador fed him the medicine and, like all good Anshin products, the skag was up and jogging around them in no time.

“He’s gonna need more to eat other than whatever Krieg brings back,” Axton said as Dukino nuzzled up to his side.  “I hear that skag tongues are pretty good.”

Maya offered to go hunt some skags and Gaige jumped at the opportunity for more action.  Zer0 offered a small apology as he left to collect Krieg, they never knew if he was safe on his own or not.

Sometimes Krieg talked to himself, arguing about staying with the rest of them.  Axton felt like Krieg wanted to stay, wanted the comradery, but was afraid to stay with them.  He and Maya discussed it frequently.

Axton was lost in thought he didn’t realize that he was slowly stroking Dukino’s side as the skag fell asleep against his leg.

“You never had a pet?” Salvador broke the silence.

“Never had the time,” Axton shrugged.  “I joined the army when I was 16.  Grew up in a little home with my uncle and he wasn’t fond of pets.  You said you had a dog?”

“Si, a little puppy from mi abuela,” Salvador sighed.  His face softened and he smiled gently.  It was such a rare sight to see the gunzerker calm down and show his softer side.  Growing up on Pandora, Salvador learned to shoot first and ask questions later.  “Her name was Andrea.  I was out looting bandits when they attacked my home.  Killed my dog and almost hurt abuela.”

Axton reached out and gripped Salvador’s thick forearm.  “I’m sorry.”

“Eh, it’s in the past now,” Salvador shrugged and patted Dukino.

Soon afterwards, Krieg and Zer0 wandered up main street with a couple of skag chews in hand.  Other than Maya, Krieg bonded with Zer0 the most.  There was something about the two of them in their less-than-human bodies that bonded them in some weird way.  Axton didn’t think on it too much – it was nice to see them all get along.

Also, Maya threatened to liquefy anyone who dared fight Krieg.

“Meat for the little flesh!” Krieg threw his chews on the ground.  “Let it grow strong for the slaughterhouse!”

Dukino scarfed the chews down and rolled over on his back.  Salvador cooed and rubbed his tummy and Dukino practically purred underneath of the attention.  Axton felt his lips turn up in a smile at the sight.  He had to admit, even though he’d seen skags literally tear people apart, this one looked pretty cute all cuddled up by Salvador.

Gaige and Maya came up from the mines, skag tongues in their hands.  They fed Dukino from their hands and he jumped on them, licking their faces.  With a last nuzzle against Salvador, Dukino walked back into his crate.

“We’ll come back for him,” Axton said, resting a hand on Salvador’s shoulder.  “We have a date with the Sheriff, after all.”

Turned out they had no need to find the Sheriff.  Brick had set up a couple of missions for them in Lynchwood to get back at the Sheriff for what she did.  One bank heist and train attack later, the Sheriff called them out.

“We’re not going to use just pistols, are we?” Gaige grinned and elbowed Axton.

“With a cheat like her?  Hell no.”

“Excellent.”

Past the bank they walked down a tunnel and emerged at Gunslinger’s Corner.  It stood on a cliff side, buildings precariously lined up and down the cliff.  At the far end was a bigger building, tall and wide with a sheriff’s star emblazoned on the front.

Axton snorted at the cliché.

The Sheriff was at the top of the building, her deputy on the ground with marshals surrounding the area.  Axton gestured emphatically to Gaige.  Cheater.

“Don’t kill the deputy,” Maya said suddenly as they readied their weapons.  “He never wanted to be a part of this.”

“So we kill the Sheriff and interrogate the deputy,” Axton agreed.

The six of them walked up the street, guns raised, and fired.  After everything that they had gone through to get here, killing the Sheriff was surprisingly easy.  Maya phaselocked the deputy and flung him away from the battle.  Krieg jumped into the fray, buzz axe swinging and blood flying.

It was Salvador who delivered the killing shot.  Deathtrap flew up to the rooftop, Salvador hanging onto him.  He dropped on top of the Sheriff and unloaded his entire magazine into her head.  Blood splashed onto his face and torso and instead of laughing like normal, Salvador just stared at the torn and bloody body.  He knelt down next to the body, his face grim and sinister.

“That’s for the puppy, you fucking bitch.”

Axton felt something in his gut lurch at Salvador’s brutality.  He had seen Salvador’s gun lust and his gunzerking craze do some brutal shit – shooting enemies so much they actually dissolved into pieces.  But this was beyond anything he’d ever seen.

Note to self: don’t get on Salvador’s bad side.

The deputy was slumped over against a building and Axton walked over to him.  They’d heard a few recorded messages while hanging around Lynchwood and it sounded like the Sheriff had forced the man to be her deputy.  He had only wanted the best for the citizens.

Lynchwood wasn’t even that bad of a place, if Axton was honest with himself.  The bandits here were civilized, to an extent.  If they weren’t ruled under the iron fist of the Sheriff, they might have be friendly.

The deputy snapped awake, flinching at the sight of the six vault hunters looming over him.

“Please, please don’t hurt me,” he said in a thick accent, muffled by his scarf.  “I never wanted to work for her, you have to understand!  She made me!”

“Listen, Deputy... Winger, wasn’t it?” Maya knelt beside him.  He nodded.  “We don’t want to hurt you.  In fact, we have a proposition for you.  We’re in contact with Sanctuary, with the Crimson Raiders.  They want to take down Handsome Jack.  You can join us, if you want.  We can keep Lynchwood protected from Hyperion.  We helped keep Overlook safe, we can help you too.”

“Vault hunters don’t help bandits,” Winger said hesitantly.

“Nah, but we help people,” Axton said.  “And you, Deputy, you don’t seem like a bandit to me.”

“Yo, Slabs!” Brick hollered over the ECHOnet.  “I saw ya’ll kill the Sheriff!  Good on ya!  Come on back and we’ll celebrate!”

“Think on it, Deputy,” Maya said gently, smiling at him.  “We’ll be back for your answer.”

Maya turned to the rest of the group and gestured for them to leave.  Axton knelt down by the deputy and planted a hand on his heavy shoulder.  The deputy lifted up his hat and yanked down his scarf.  He had whiskers on his face and eyes that seemed too big for his head.

“Do you mean it?” Winger asked.  “Are you going to help us out?”

Axton shrugged.  He dug into his pack and pulled out a handful of ECHO recorders that he found in Sanctuary.

“Listen to these,” Axton said.  “They’ll help you understand.”

Gaige shouted at him to hurry his ass along, that Salvador had already landed in Sanctuary and Krieg was right behind him.  Axton gave the deputy a fond salute and jogged after the rest of the vault hunters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Highly recommend Not Jack by vickjawn. It pretty much inspired me to right my first fanfic in this fandom and made me fall in love with the idea of Lynchwood and Deputy Winger.


	5. Chapter 5

Sanctuary was suddenly a bright and peaceful city compared to Lynchwood, flying above the Highlands.  There was only one step left before they were ready to take down Handsome Jack and it was waiting in Opportunity.

“ _Time is of the essence, but don’t feel rushed,_ ” Angel said.  “ _You will need every bit of strength and courage before you enter Opportunity.  Take your time and be safe._ ”

“Looks like we caught a break, eh?” Axton stretched his arms over his head, popping his back.  “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m gonna sleep for a week!”

“Count me in!” Gaige agreed as they walked down the streets.  “God, I’m so glad you bought that house, Maya.  Beats sleeping at HQ every night.”

“If there’s one thing I appreciated from the abbey it was having a place to call home,” Maya said wisely.

“Home is where the heart is,” Zer0 said.  “Or so the saying goes.”

“Surprised Axton stays in the house,” Salvador nudged Axton in the gut.  “You seem like the kind to live with a foot out the door.  Not one to settle down, amigo.”

Axton gave a half-hearted chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.  Sarah wasn’t the settling down type either.

The entire team made their way to their house but he turned the other way.  He walked down past Scooter’s garage and sat down at the edge of the city.  He was never afraid of heights but something about seeing his feet dangling hundreds of feet above the grassy Highlands made his stomach lurch.

He was still the only one using the term ‘family’ in regards to their relationship.  He mentioned his ex-wife to them but never told them about wanting to settle down.

It still felt too intimate to share.

“You ain’t gonna jump, are ya?” Scooter shouted from the garage.  “Because, man, I don’ wanna tell Roland one of his vault hunters up and killed ‘imself.”

“Nah,” Axton shook his head.  “Just thinking, Scooter.”

“Alright!” Scooter gave a thumbs up.

Axton laughed gently to himself and looked out over the Highlands.  From up here, the Highlands were peaceful and beautiful.  There wasn’t any sign of how dangerous the lands were – the threshers and stalkers that roamed the rolling green hills.

It was so different from his home and from the planets he’d seen on missions from Dahl.  Pandora was beautiful and threatening and deadly.  It was no wonder the sirens were connected to the planet, to the vaults and Eridium.  They were all the same, dangerous and beautiful.

“Hey, killer.”

Speaking of sirens.

Lilith sat down next to Axton, her feet hanging over the edge as well.  Roland was the obvious commander of the Crimson Raiders but it was clear that Lilith was the hard arm behind his leadership.  She was gorgeous and deadly and Axton stiffened beside her.  He didn’t forget her home in the Frostburns as the Firehawk.

“Hello, ma’am,” he nodded.

“Aren’t we past that?” Lilith laughed, nudging his shoulder with her own.  “You brought all my friends back.  We’re like family.”

“Heh, family.”

“Aren’t you?”

Axton shrugged and kicked his feet absently.

“I don’t know about that.”

“You are,” Lilith said confidently.  “Maya speaks fondly of you.  She admires you, even.”

Axton couldn’t help the blush that he felt spread across his face.  Maya warmed up them quickly but something about her still seemed otherworldly.  It still felt like they were on separate worlds; him the rough soldier and her the stunning siren.

“Not to mention Gaige,” Lilith continued.  “That girl looks at you like a brother.”

“But is it enough?” Axton said softly, letting those fears finally come to light.  “Zer0 is my best friend.  Salvador and Krieg are my brothers in arms.  Maya and Gaige are sisters to me.  They’re the family I never got to have, Lilith.  But a family goes both ways, doesn’t it?”

He looked over at Lilith.  She was staring out to the sky with a soft smile on her face.  Axton had never seen her look so peaceful.  She tended to have her face pinched off in anger or seriousness.  Then again, fighting a war would do that.

“I met my boys on a bus,” Lilith said eventually, her voice soft with fondness.  “We were absolute strangers but Angel talked to us, brought us together.  I mean, sure, it was under Jack’s orders, but at the time it seemed like fate.  Mordecai was such a bastard though.  God, he thought he was hot shit and, don’t get me wrong, he’s the best sharp shooter in the six galaxies, but damn that boy had an ego.”

Axton leaned closer.  He’d never heard any of them talk about their vault hunting days.

“He and Brick got into a fight, that first night,” Lilith continued, lost to the memories.  “Brick couldn’t understand why someone would want to be far away from combat and Mordecai wouldn’t dare let anyone insult him and his rifle.  If Roland hadn’t been there they probably would’ve killed each other.  Thank god Zed was there.”

Lilith tipped her head to Axton with a soft, fond smile on her face.  He raised his eyebrows a little, wanting her to continue.  He wanted to know the rest of this story, this slice of how they met.

“And then it sorta fell into place,” Lilith shrugged.  “We took missions together, met an old blind guy, and opened a vault.  We became friends and then we were family.”

“That easy?”

“Then Roland and I took a vacation on the moon, but that’s another story,” Lilith grinned.  “Point is that these things take time, Axton.  They care about you, remember?  That means a lot on this planet.”

She reached up and cupped his face, her thumb swiping over his cheekbone.  Axton stiffened and nearly lurched away before remembering that he was on the edge of the city.  Lilith laughed lightly and patted his face.  Gracefully, she stood up and sauntered off, leaving Axton at the edge of Sanctuary.

 

Axton yawned and leaned up against the wall.  Watching Marcus and Salvador argue over guns was interesting the first few times but now it was just old.

“Take the goddamn gun, Sal,” Axton said.  “We’ll probably pick up a few legendries after we kill Jack.”

Grumbling all the while, Salvador bought the submachine gun.  He glared as Marcus took the money with a smug as shit smile.  Axton gave Marcus a brief nod and followed his friend out to the city.

“Why do you keep arguing with Marcus?” Axton asked as they walked back to the house.  “You know he sold guns to bandits, right?  That man will do anything to make a profit and he’s not scared of vault hunters.”

“Goddamn pendejo,” Salvador mumbled, throwing open the door.  He collapsed onto the couch, gently placing his new gun on his ever increasing rack of weapons.

“Gotta make a living,” Axton shrugged and closed the door behind them.  He kicked his boots off into a corner and turned on their rickety television that Gaige had made out of spare parts.

Some rerun was playing and Axton settled himself in for a long ECHOnet marathon.  Salvador sprawled on the couch next to him, arms brushing together.  Gaige stomped down the stairs at the sound of the theme music.

“Whoo!  Marathon!” she cheered, jumping practically onto Axton.

“Whoa, watch the grease!” Axton pushed her away even as her grease stained hands smeared across his pants.  Gaige stuck her tongue out at him and dragged her greasy fingers down his cheek.

“Shut up, you two!” Salvador said.  “The king is about to get stabbed!”

Somehow Maya and Zer0 jumped into the marathon too and even Krieg came in, hunched over behind the couch, softly muttering to himself.  Axton ended up squashed next to Salvador and Gaige with Maya’s legs thrown over the three of them as she leaned against Zer0.

The show played on for hours, episode after episode playing flawlessly into the next one.  Gaige ended up passed out against Axton’s shoulders, snoring softly.  Axton found himself mindlessly rubbing Maya’s feet and Salvador let out a massive yawn.

It was warm and cozy in their little room, the television light flickering in the dark room.  Krieg had fallen asleep on the floor and Zer0 threw a blanket over him, careful not to dislodge Maya, softly sleeping on his chest.

The ECHOnet show ended and an infomercial for Maliwan started up.  Axton looked around at the team falling asleep on the couch, collapsed against each other.  Something warm bloomed in his chest at the sight of them together.  It had been doing that a lot lately, since Zer0 dropped his guard and Salvador started talking and Maya smiled.

“You want a family,” Zer0’s voice was a soft, rumbling noise in the quiet room.  “You look at us like family. / Why do you hide it?”

Axton gave a slight shrug, trying not to move Gaige.

“My ex-wife didn’t want a family,” Axton eventually said.  “I did but the army is no place for a family.  Guess the feeling never went away.”

Zer0 let out a hum.  “I was much the same. / Assassins have no family. / But you have changed that.”

There was a sound of metal latches unhooking and a hiss of air escaping.  Sleepily turning his head, Axton saw Zer0 reach up and pull off the front of his mask.

“No, wait,” Axton said quickly.  “You don’t have to, Zee.”

Zer0 didn’t even answer, just pulled off the mask.

Axton didn’t know what he was expecting, maybe a bizarre deformity (Axton had seen some aliens after all) or purple skin or rows of razor sharp teeth.  Instead he looked almost normal.  He had white skin, slightly blue, that looked waxy and stretched across his narrow, angular face.  His eyes were abnormally large and impossibly black, set deep in his face.  He smiled and exposed rows of square, yellowy teeth.

“So why the mask?” Axton blurted out, noticing the lack of ears and petite nose.

“I prefer the anonymity of it,” Zer0 said, dropping his haiku speak.  “And I’ve seen the way humans treat aliens.  It is safer to hide.”

Axton reached out and grabbed Zer0’s hand, holding it tightly.  “Thank you, Zer0.”

Those black, unnatural eyes locked onto Axton’s face.  They seemed to twinkle fondly, like warm charcoal.

“Family.”

Axton woke up the next morning to Gaige screaming.

“OH MY GOD ZER0, YOUR MASK!”

Blearily opening his eyes and pushing himself off Salvador’s unconscious body, Axton saw Gaige crawling over Maya to poke Zer0 in the face.  He grabbed her hand before she could touch him.

“It is too early,” Zer0 muttered.

“What the fuck, Zer0,” Gaige said.

“Language,” Axton sleepily reached out and smacked her.      

“Dude, aren’t you gonna die?!” Gaige frantically dove to the ground, grabbing Zer0’s mask.

“I breathe oxygen,” Zer0 gently touched Gaige’s arms, slowing her panicked movements.  “I prefer to be unknown.”

“Then why now?” Maya said.  “Why share your face with us now?  What changed?”

Zer0 glanced over at Axton, his dark eyes impossible to read.  He smiled, the skin pulling tight across his cheeks and Axton’s heart lurched.

“I feel comfortable with you,” Zer0 eventually said.  “I have no desire to hide who I am from you.  You have become a home to me.”

Gaige practically melted, reaching around and hugging Zer0.  His large eyes went larger with surprise before he hugged Gaige back.  Maya stood up, a fond smile on her face, and patted Zer0 on the shoulder before walking into the kitchen.

Salvador chose that time to wake up with a shout, kicking his feet right into Axton’s legs.  Axton swore loudly and punched Salvador in the shoulder.  Then Salvador tackled Axton onto the ground.

Krieg was shouting over them, Gaige was cheering, and Maya scolding as Axton and Salvador tussled across the floor.  It was only when Maya threatened to hold back breakfast that Salvador stood up from where he had Axton pinned.

They gathered in the kitchen, abandoning Axton on the ground, winded and sore.  But as he heard the low roar of conversation and the sound of breakfast cooking, he couldn’t be bothered to get angry.

 

They were off to Opportunity in the next few days.  There were a few more things to gather before Maya felt they were ready to lay siege on the Hyperion city.  But it had been weeks since they returned from Lynchwood and Krieg was getting antsy.

Which is why Axton and Krieg were down in the Highlands causing havoc.

“You’re sweet on Maya, aren’t you?” Axton eventually said as they hauled themselves up to Overlook.

Krieg shook his head and gave a shout.  “Pretty lady speaks to me and the man inside!”

“You know she’s not like, into romance or shit, right?”

Krieg growled and stood still.  His hands felt limply to his side and he leveled Axton with a serious stare.

“Maya helps my sanity,” Krieg said slowly, his voice deep and gravelly.  “She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.  Because of her, and everyone else, I’m myself again.”

Axton looked up at the psycho, at his sad eye and hunched over shoulders.  Krieg shuddered and the crazed looked came back into his eye.

“Flesh is satisfied.  Back to the friendlies.”

“Krieg,” Axton started.  “Whatever happens, you know that we’re here for you, right big guy?  Me, Maya, Zer0, Salvador, Gaige, like we care.  Hyperion really fucked you over but we still care.  You’re one of us.”

Krieg rested a hand on Axton’s shoulder and nodded.

“Family,” Krieg mumbled.

Axton hummed and his heart lurched with fondness.  A grin split his face and Axton’s entire chest filled with warmth at hearing Krieg feel the familial bond that Axton had felt since they became a team.

“Yeah, big guy,” Axton couldn’t even stop the fondness from his voice.  “We’re a family.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy family building filler chapter.
> 
> The team is gonna go to Opportunity next!


	6. Chapter 6

Axton pulled over just outside of Opportunity.  The sun was rising against the lake, casting pale yellow light over the Highlands and flashing against the sparkling towers of Handsome Jack’s Pandoran city.  They had traded off driving since they left Overlook and the team of vault hunters were asleep in the back of the car.

Not wanting to wake them up, Axton slipped out of the car to stretch his legs.  The air on the lake was cold, not yet warmed by the hot sun.  Axton groaned as he popped his back and eyed up Jack’s shining city.

It looked wrong, shining on the lake with steel, glass, and Hyperion yellow.  Axton had been all across Pandora and it was a rough planet.  Like Salvador had said, it was a kill or be killed world.  The animals were tough to eat and tougher to kill.  Wood was rare and the landscape changed as quick as the weather.

But that was what Pandora _was_.  It was a land of survival, grimy and bloody.  Like the Sheriff of Lynchwood said over her loudspeakers.  _Let Jack have his ivory towers; I came to Pandora for action._

“Angel,” Axton pulled up his ECHO device.  “Are there people living in Opportunity?”

“Although Jack has had plans to move civilians into the city, it hasn’t finished completion yet,” Angel replied instantly, her serene face flashing on the ECHO.  “The only residents of Opportunity are Hyperion workers and loaders.  Don’t worry about killing anyone innocent.”

Axton thanked her and tucked his ECHO away.  Someone stepped up next to him, heavy feet thudding on the ground.  Axton looked up at Krieg.  He looked different than normal, his head was lowered and he wasn’t shouting at the top of his lungs.

“No innocents?” Krieg asked.  He sounded different too, less rough.

“Not according to Angel,” Axton said.  “Go crazy, buddy.”

“He’ll like that,” Krieg sighed.

He shivered and shook his head.  The one eye that Axton could see went dark and Krieg cracked his neck.  He shouted incoherently and gestured towards the city.  The shout woke up the rest of the vault hunters and they crawled out of the car, bleary eyed and yawning.

“So that’s Handsome Jack’s city,” Maya crept up next to Axton, resting a hand on his shoulder.  “It’s a goddamn eyesore, isn’t it?”

“Let’s tear it up,” Gaige cackled.

They walked serenely into the city, guns heavy in hand as the sun slowly rose across the lake.  Just as Angel said, the city was crawling with loader bots and Hyperion workers, all of whom shot at the vault hunters as soon as they came in.

The inside of the city was as bright and shiny as the outside.  The buildings were angular and sharp, glass and steel built in triangles that towered over the ground.  Statues of Handsome Jack were scattered around, big and glittering in the light.  The streets and walkways went up the buildings and down beneath the ground like a maze.

They wandered around, killing bots and engineers as they went, until Axton felt hopelessly lost in the city.  They walked into a plaza with a statue in the center and giant, digital paintings on the walls surrounding it.

Each of the paintings depicted Handsome Jack on Pandora, doing various heroic feats.  Curious, Axton reached out and pushed a button.

A voice came from a loudspeaker detailing how Handsome Jack came to Pandora to colonize the rugged border planet.  The lies that came forth made Axton wince and as soon as the recording ended, he moved to the next kiosk and pushed that button.

Around the plaza was more kiosks and more lies.  How Handsome Jack singlehandedly opened the vault and killed the monster inside.  How he used Eridium to better the world.  How he had plans to colonize Pandora, to destroy bandits and make the universe safer.

It made Axton sick.

“He was nowhere near that vault,” Maya said, staring at the painting of Handsome Jack standing in front of the vault, four dim figures sitting in the foreground.  “Lilith told me about how they found the vault, killed the monster, and never once saw Jack, never even heard of him.”

“History has been / written by those who have won / even if it’s lies.”

“What a dick,” Gaige muttered venomously under her breath.

“All the more important that we kill him,” Axton said.  “Let’s find this doppelganger and move on.”

They made their way to the center of the city, Axton and Maya on point and Krieg bringing up the back.  The buildings curved over where they were walking, or where they going lower?  It was hard to say but Axton felt like Opportunity was the dumbest fucking city design he’d ever seen.

The doors flung open and dozens of Hyperion guys ran out like ants, leading the charge was –

“That’s him!” Angel exclaimed.  “That’s one of Jack’s doppelgangers; kill him and take his voice modulator.”

“Don’t shoot!  I want to help!” he shouted.

Maya took a step forward and phaselocked him instantly.  Krieg and Salvador charged forward with Axton, making short work of the engineers and bots that were slowly filling up the small space.  Gaige grabbed the doppelganger as he fell and from the phaselock and dragged him to the side as Maya unleashed her siren powers upon Hyperion.

They ran into a spare room, locking the door behind them, Gaige dragging the doppelganger behind her.  Krieg and Salvador stood by the door as Zer0 locked it behind them.  Maya and Axton knelt down with Gaige by the doppelganger and he started to wake up.  He jolted, eyes wide and frightened.  It was unnerving to see Jack’s face, usually so cocky and arrogant, filled with terror.

“Who are you?” Maya asked.  “You’re one of his doppelgangers, right?”  He nodded and whimpered.  “What’s your name?”

“T-Timothy,” he said.  “I want to help.”

Axton leveled his gun at the doppelganger’s head.  “And how do we know we can even trust you?”

“I was the first one,” Timothy said.  “The first doppelganger he made.  It was, god, years ago on Elpis.  I watched Handsome Jack turn into a goddamn villain and I want to stop him.”

“Angel?” Axton asked.

“Trust him,” Angel said.  “If Timothy wants to help and give you his modulator, take it.  This actually saves us a lot of time.  The modulator that Timothy wears is the first one that Jack ever made – I wouldn’t have to calibrate it to one of you.  However, that does mean we have to take Timothy with us to my chambers.”

Axton looked over at Maya, deferring to her logic and leadership.

“We take him,” Maya said.  “Salvador, blindfold him.”

Bound and blindfolded, Krieg carried Timothy over his shoulder as they fought their way back out of Opportunity to the fast travel station.  Maya went first and punched in the coordinates for all of them.

Axton felt the blue light digitize him and within seconds he came through the fast travel, blinking away the remnants of the fast travel.  He opened his eyes, prepared to explain themselves to the residents of Sanctuary –

And inhaled a lung full of dirt.

“Well, howdy ya’ll!  Didn’t expect to see you here!”

They were in the Dust right outside of Ellie’s garage.  Axton coughed and rubbed the dust from his face.  The wind was blowing like mad and dust was flying around Ellie’s garage.

“Ya’ll better get in here quick, before the sand storm really hits!”

Squinting through the dust, Axton reached out and grabbed onto the person nearest him.  Salvador’s thick shoulder was strong under his hand and they pushed into Ellie’s garage.  She slammed the doors shut and the silence was deafening.

Blinking the sand out of his eyes, Axton saw Ellie rush around, preparing everything for them to settle in against the sand storm.  Maya stood next to Krieg, helping him put down Timothy.

“Um, I really hate to ask the obvious, but why aren’t we in Sanctuary?” Gaige asked, pulling her hair free from her pigtails and shaking the sand out.

“We need a plan,” Maya said.  “If we brought in Timothy, Sanctuary would open fire.  We need him and he wants to help, but we can’t just bring him to Roland and Lilith like this.”

“Who’s your friend?” Ellie asked, walking up to them.  “He looks awful familiar.  Moxxi said she met one of Jack’s doppelgangers back on Elpis.  Her, Roland and Lilith sorta worked together with him.”

Everyone froze.

“Wait, what?” Axton asked.

“Yeah, they helped stop the moon from exploding or somethin’,” Ellie shrugged.  “Moxxi was never very clear on the details.  She left for the moon with Jack and me and Scooter made our livin’ down here.  Never talked about it much when she came back.”

Axton turned to Timothy.  He looked so scared, mismatched eyes as wide as dinner plates and his face was as white as snow.  His hands were shaking and he kept glancing at Krieg.

“Is that true?” Maya turned to Timothy.

“Y-yeah,” Timothy stuttered.  “This crazy Dahl splinter group took over Hyperion and tried to blow up the moon.  Jack hired us to help him out.  Moxxi, Lilith, Roland, they helped too for a bit, you know, to save the moon.”

“Then what happened?” Gaige prodded.  “Why do you wanna stop Jack now?”

Timothy shuddered.  “He killed innocent people.  He kept killing innocent people. I had to stay and be Jack’s doppelganger.  It was more important than ever when he took over Hyperion but then he got… worse.  Experiments, torture, massacres, it was the Handsome Jack way.  When he sent me to Pandora I knew I had to find a way to stop him.”

Axton had to admit that it was a convincing story and, to be honest, Timothy didn’t look capable of lying.  In fact, he looked like the smallest breeze would knock the poor guy over.  Maya stared at Timothy, her eyes narrowing as she scrutinized him.

“I trust you,” she said eventually.  “We’ll take you to Sanctuary in the morning.  If you were on the moon with Roland and Lilith, then they’ll remember.”

Timothy’s shoulders sank with relief and he let out a watery breath.  Ellie gathered up mattresses and blankets for them to camp out on and they all settled for a long night.

But Axton couldn’t sleep.

He trusted Maya’s judgement, trusted it better than his own in fact.  She was a brave woman, cunning and intelligent and level headed.  Her decisions had not led them astray and Axton felt confident in her, but there was something about Timothy that unsettled him.  The face, probably.

Seeing his team, his family, all nestled in with Handsome Jack threw him off.  Even though Axton knew it wasn’t Handsome Jack, it was a doppelganger, a scared and timid doppelganger, he couldn’t help but be on edge.

The dust storm blew loud around the garage, the wind whistling and spiderants squealing.  Axton sat up and wrapped his blanket around his shoulder.  He fumbled for his ECHO device and switched it on, turning away from everyone else to hide the light.

Nothing like a late night ECHOnet marathon to put him to sleep.

He was in the middle of episode five when someone shifted next to him.  It was Timothy, his hair sticking up and eyes sticky with sleep.  He looked vulnerable in the dim light of Axotn’s ECHO.

“Can’t sleep?” Axton whispered.

Timothy nodded.  Throwing all caution to the wind, Axton gestured for Timothy to sit next to him.  He held out his ECHO and pressed play on the episode.  Huddled together they watched as a mysterious blue box traveled across time and space.

And Axton realized that his family had grown by one.

 

Lilith looked unimpressed, to say the least.

“Decided to finally join the good guys, huh?” she said.  “Few years too late, don’t you think?”

“Come off it, Lilith,” Roland said.  “Timothy, right?  It’s good to see you again.

Timothy nodded slowly, his mouth in a tight line.  “G-good to see you too.  Sorry about, you know, the moon.  But I’m here to make it right.  I know where the Vault Key is.  I know how to get there.  If you have a plan, then I’m ready to go.”

The plan was simple.  Brick and his slabs would fly to the bunker for support while Claptrap disabled the shield.  Roland would climb the cliff and meet them in the bunker where Angel was storing the Vault Key.  Mordecai and Lilith would stay and guard over Sanctuary.

“Like hell I am!”

Even if Lilith was pissed about it.

“When the time comes, Timothy will open the chamber and we’ll get the key.  Understand?” Roland finished off.

“Let’s do this,” Axton grinned and clapped Timothy’s shoulder.  “You ready, buddy?”

“…Yeah,” Timothy laughed nervously.  “Just… let me change my clothes.  By now Jack knows I’m with you guys and will probably have all the soldiers out for my death.  Can’t help you if I’m dead, you know.”

He winced and rubbed the back of his neck, an oddly nervous gesture to see on Handsome Jack’s face.  Maya reached out and gently took Timothy’s arm.  He stiffened at first then allowed her to lead him out of HQ, Krieg following her like a puppy.

“We’ll go talk to Claptrap then,” Gaige grinned sunnily, gesturing at Zer0 and Salvador.  “Meet ya’ll at Thousand Cuts!

The three of them dashed out the window, down the rooftops and onto the ground, jogging (or skipping in Gaige’s case) to Claptrap.  Axton laughed a little to himself and made to walk out the door like a normal person.

“A word, Axton,” Roland stopped him.

Axton grimaced and turned around.  Roland, Lilith, Mordecai and Brick were all staring at him.  Once again, Axton was struck speechless at the sight of them.  The four vault hunters who, years ago, opened the first Pandoran Vault.  These four were the beginning of a legend that inspired him and his team.  They took down Atlas, defeated the Crimson Lance, opened a vault and killed the monster inside.

They, like him, sought for fortune and glory and they found it.

“Yes, sir?” Axton said, trying not to feel intimidated.

“After we do this, after Handsome Jack is dead, I understand if you want to leave Pandora for good,” Roland said.  “This life isn’t for everyone and while we would certainly appreciate you staying, don’t feel like you have to.  Your or any of the others.”

“I – Thanks,” Axton said.  “But let’s start with killing Handsome Jack.”

Axton turned on his heel and left. He never thought about what he was going to do after all this vault business was over.  He was going to grab the glory, the loot, and then what?  Maybe he’ll stay here in Sanctuary with the others, live on Pandora with his new family.

He walked down the streets and found Maya and Timothy walking out of the clothes shop where Krieg was standing guard.  Timothy had his hair cut off and was wearing a red and black shirt and a long dark jacket.  He looked more like Jack’s brother than Jack himself now and Axton couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“Not bad,” he said.  “Maya help you out?”

“Um, yeah,” Timothy tugged at his shirt self-consciously.  “I – I’m ready to go now.”

“He was telling me about his time on Elpis,” Maya said as they walked to the fast travel station.  “About what it was like to work with Handsome Jack.  Did you know that he knew Nisha and Wilhelm?”

Axton did a double take at that.  Nisha the Sheriff and Wilhelm the cyborg?

“And Claptrap,” Timothy added.  “Though he was called Fragtrap back then.”

Timothy didn’t say much else about why they were all on Elpis, just mentioned how cold it was and the laser weapons he had.  He talked about sending threshers to Sir Hammerlock and working with Aurelia.  He never mentioned Jack or why he became a doppelganger and Axton didn’t push.  It was nice to see him relax a little, become more Timothy and less Jack.

The sight of Thousands Cuts slowly appeared in Axon’s vision as he blinked away the blue digistruct tech.  Zer0 was perched on top of the rocks, sniper rifle in hand as he looked at the bunker.  Salvador and Gaige were throwing rocks at a can, trying to see who could knock it over first.

“Zer0’s not allowed to play,” Gaige said haughtily as her rock cleared the can completely.

Without even looking, Zer0 threw a rock over his shoulder and knocked the can right over.

“And that’s why.”

Zer0 laughed, actually laughed, and jumped onto the ground.

“The way is open / and Claptrap awaits for us / Let’s end this for good.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Maya said.  “This is it, everyone.  We’re going to get the Vault Key and kill Handsome Jack and we’re going to do it together.  Even you, Timothy.  You were one of Jack’s vault hunters and now you’re with us.  He won’t know what hit him.”

Together the seven of them walked to the Hyperion force field, weapons ready with Brick flying overhead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I mention that "Not Jack" really hit me hard when I read it? Because yeah, TimTam is my jam and I've always had the headcanon that Timothy was the doppelganger in Opportunity.
> 
> And, if you can guess, bad stuff about to happen.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I've been promoted and trying to keep up on my job has been taking all my time. Thanks so much to everyone who commented, kudos, and have been supportive this whole time :D

“I love you.”

As Axton shot the last injector he remembered what the password was to Angel’s room.  Angel screamed, her voice tight with agony, and she collapsed to the ground.

“Dad, I have to tell you something,” Angel whispered.  “You’re an asshole.”

Gaige fell to the ground beside her, holding her hand tight and Axton could see the sobs shaking her shoulders.  Axton remembered sitting in a tiny kitchen with Gaige as she sent a rapid ECHO message to her own dad that she was safe and protected.  He remembered the reply, months later, full of love and support.  He knew that Gaige listened to it every night.

Silence fell.  No sound of machines whirring.  No yelling from Jack or Angel.  Just quiet as they looked down at Angel’s body.  Free at last.

“What’s done is done,” Roland said, somberly.  He straightened up and turned to face the vault hunters.  “She’s dead and Jack’s just lost his only way to awaken the Warrior.  We got the Vault Key, but this isn’t over yet.  We’ve gotta find Jack and take him out.  Lilith, take the Vault Key to Tannis.  I’m going after Jack.”

The gunshot echoed in the chamber and Axton froze as blood trickled from the bullet wound on Roland’s chest.  Roland fell beside Angel, blood pooling beneath him.  Axton tore his eyes away from the sight and there he was, Handsome Jack.

“Roland!” Lilith cried.  “You bastard!”

Timothy shrank down beside Krieg at the sight of Handsome Jack.  Axton knew he needed to grab his gun, needed to gun down this skaglicking son of a bitch, but he couldn’t move his arm.  Goddammit, he was in the army!  He had seen soldiers die beside him for years.  He watched his CO get gunned down and kept running.

So why couldn’t he move now?

Fire erupted behind Lilith and her eyes went gold as she lunged for Handsome Jack.  He reached out and snapped a collar around her neck.  Gaige gasped and scrambled backwards into Salvador who put a hand on her shoulder, rifle aimed at Jack.

“Kill the vault hunters, Lilith,” Jack said, yanking her head back.  “Do it!”

Lilith’s tattoos glowed purple, then white, then orange.  She struggled against Jack even as her arm lifted up.  Axton felt his hair prickle as the air filled with electricity and Eridium.  He spared a quick glance around him; at Maya next to him, glowing blue with her own siren power, at Krieg standing strong with Timothy beside him, at Salvador hunched over and protecting Gaige with Zer0 at his side.  One last glance at his family before Lilith obliterated all of them.

All in all, not a bad way to go.

“No!” Lilith screamed and the air was filled with white light.

 

Blinking away the whiteness, Axton’s stomach lurched with the sudden transportation.  He spun around and everyone else was there with him.  Timothy cradled in Krieg’s arms, Gaige collapsed into a heap beside Salvador, and Zer0 and Maya up and alert.

“What the hell happened?!” Mordecai screeched into the ECHO.  “Goddammit!  Vault hunters, get to me, now!”

“Give us a minute,” Maya snapped.  “We’ll be there soon.”

“I need you – ”

Maya shut off the ECHO with a huff and muttered curses under her breath.  She turned around to rest of the group and knelt down beside Axton.  Gaige let out a heavy breath and melted next to Salvador.  He wrapped an arm around her and cradled her close.

“Her father,” Gaige whispered into Salvador’s shoulder.  “Jack’s her father and he – he – ”

Salvador didn’t say anything, just held her tighter.

“We saved her,” Timothy said, his voice breaking.  “She… she’s at peace again.”

“We almost died,” Salvador said in his rumbling voice.  He tightened his arm around Gaige.  Zer0 knelt down beside Salvador and wrapped his long arms around both Gaige and Salvador in a hug.

“We are all here now,” Zer0 said.  “All of us, here together / None of us are gone.”

Axton couldn’t help himself as he sat down and allowed himself to join the hug on the ground.  Maya sat down as well and Krieg dragged Timothy into their group.

“It’s gonna be okay, kiddo,” Axton said as well as he could with his face mushed up against Gaige’s head and Timothy crammed in behind him.  “We’re together in this.”

“Like a family,” Gaige whispered.

Axton’s breath caught in his throat and he glanced at Maya.  She looked just as shocked as he did.  He wanted to stay there forever, holding his little family together through their grief but Axton knew he couldn’t.  There would be time to grieve but now was the time to fight.

 

It was spreading the news that hurt the worst.  Timothy tucked himself in HQ and refused to come out.  Salvador went to Marcus, Krieg told Brick, Maya went downstairs to Tannis, Gaige walked alone to Scooter with her feet dragging, Zer0 ran off to Zed and Axton made the long trek to Moxxi.

The bar was still bustling with business; the news of Roland’s death hasn’t spread around to all of Sanctuary.  Hammerlock was in the corner, deep in conversation with one of the raiders.  Jessup was trying to flirt with Moxxi again but kept talking to the tip jar, bottle of ale tipping dangerously in his hand.

Slot machines were ringing, the music was playing, people were laughing and singing and Axton was going to ruin it all.

“Moxxi,” Axton sat down at the bar.

“Just the man I wanted to see,” Moxxi grinned.  She pulled up a bottle of rakk ale and set it down beside him.  “How’s the vault?  Any loot in there?”

“About that…” Axton sighed.  He pulled the ale close and fiddled with the label.

“And where’s Roland and Lilith?” Moxxi asked.  “Off on another honeymoon?  Did I ever tell you about the time on the moon Roland tried to take Lilith to a fancy dinner but halfway through - ”

“Roland’s dead,” Axton said.  His voice sounded strange and foreign to him, like someone else was saying the words.  “We were in the central core and stopped the key from getting charged.  Then Jack showed up and just… shot him.  Right in… right in the chest.”

“Jack killed Roland?” Moxxi whispered.  “Son of a bitch… He helped me take care of Mr. Shank, and unlike… well, damn near everyone around here, he always behaved like a gentleman.  I don’t… I don’t know what to say.  Dammit, am I crying?”

“I’m… I’m sorry, Mox,” Axton said awkwardly as she started crying.

“What about Lilith?” Moxxi asked.  “Wh- where is she?”

Axton took a drink of rakk ale.  His hands were shaking.  “Jack got her.”

“What are we gonna do now?” Moxxi asked, subtly wiping away her tears under the pretense of fixing her make up.

“Brick and Mordecai are cooking something up,” Axton said.  “We’ll uh, be heading out soon.”

“Go fast, Axton,” Moxxi said.  “You hurry and get Lilith back and kill the fuck out of Jack.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Axton nodded.  He gathered up his rakk ale and left a slightly somber Moxxi behind.  But even as he left he heard her laugh at Jessup and hand out drinks.

 

The Eridium Blight was barren and pulsing with Eridium energy.  Maya spent the entire drive holding herself together, her tattoos glowing and eyes screwed up tight.  Krieg was twitching incessantly beside her, his lone eye dashing across the landscape.

Gaige had set up a small fire beside the fast travel station as Axton set up a tarp for shelter.  The volcano was loud in the distance and the sky was a murky violet shade of gray.

In short, it was utterly miserable.

Brick had sent them off to the Sawtooth Cauldron to steal explosives in order to break into the Info Stockade and get the Warrior’s location.  It was the only way now to stop Jack and save Lilith.  There had only been enough time to get a plan, pack up, and drive.

It had only been days since the tragedy with Angel but it felt like months.  Maybe it was the 90 hour day-cycle, maybe it was how much they’ve gone through, but Axton was ready to collapse and sleep for a week.

Salvador trudged back to their little camp, dragging a bullymong behind him.  He and Krieg tore it apart in no time and the smell of cooking flesh wafted over the camp.

“Do you think we’re ready?” Gaige asked, her legs curled up underneath her chin.  The firelight flickered off her face, casting deep shadows underneath her eyes.

“Of course we are,” Maya said instantly.  “This is what we came to Pandora for, to find a Vault.  Now we’re going to beat Jack and save Pandora – of course we’re ready.  Angel thought we were ready.”

Her name brought a somber air to the camp, her death still too fresh in their minds.  Axton saw Gaige tighten herself into a smaller ball and watched Zer0’s shoulder stiffen from where he was standing guard.  Salvador huffed out a heavy sigh and threw his food scraps into the fire.

“We’re going to do it,” Axton said, tightening his fist on his lap.  “No matter what happens when we get there, Jack has to die.”

_Even if we do.  Even if I do._

Darkness settled into the Blight and the rest of the team started to fall asleep.  Gaige kept herself curled into a tight ball, the corner of her eyes sparkling with tears.  Maya curled up underneath of Krieg’s massive frame, her blue tattoos casting them both in cold light.  Salvador leaned up against the runner with his assault rifle.  Zer0 stood at the edge of the camp, a sharp silhouette against the rapidly darkening sky.

With a groan, Axton heaved himself up, his knees aching from being in one spot for too long.  He checked the pistol on his hip and walked up to Zer0, clapping him on the shoulder.

“It’ll all be over soon,” he said.

“You think you will die,” Zer0 stated.  “That this mission is the one.  It will be your end.”

“What’s my life to saving a planet,” Axton shrugged.  “To saving yours, and theirs.  I would – I would die a hundred times over to keep everyone here safe.  I just… Gaige has a family, so does Sal.  Maya and Krieg still have questions that need answers and you!  God, Zer0, what would the universe do without you?  The greatest assassin in the galaxies.”

Zer0 placed a hand on Axton’s shoulder and took off his helmet with the other.  It wasn’t often that he did and Axton felt his stomach bottom out at the sight of Zer0’s black eyes.

“Give yourself credit. / Maya leads, but it was you / who united us,” Zer0 looked over his shoulder at the camp.  “You’ve already said / that we are a family / and that includes you.”

“You have to promise me, Zer0,” Axton grit his teeth.  “Promise me that no matter what happens to me you’ll kill Jack.”

Zer0 started to shake his head but Axton interrupted him.

“I mean it,” Axton insisted.  “If there’s a killing shot and it’s between taking it and saving me, goddammit Zer0, _you take that fucking shot_.  I don’t care what Maya or Gaige or Salvador or anyone else says.  This is more important than any of us, Zer0, more important than my life, you got it?  You’re my best friend, I don’t trust anyone else.”

“Promise me one thing. / Promise me that you’ll be safe. / Don’t take any risks.”

“I’ll be careful,” Axton said.  “But taking down Jack is the most important thing right now no matter the cost.”

Zer0 stared at Axton, his pitch black eyes warm.  He nodded subtly and Axton let out a sigh of relief.  He honestly didn’t know how this fight would end but he knew one thing – that Jack would end up dead.

If Axton died in the middle of it then so be it.  It would be worth it to save Pandora, to save this family of his.  Roland died for the cause and so would Axton.  Every soldier grows up knowing death is around the corner and the only thing to do is die for a worthy cause.

Seeing Gaige curled up with Salvador behind her, Maya and Krieg wrapped up together, Zer0 standing next to him with his helmet off – that was cause worth dying for.

Zer0 snapped his helmet back on, hefted up his rifle, and walked into the Blight to do some recon, promising to bring back any loot he found along the way which left Axton on watch.  Sitting on a nearby rock, Axton picked up his ECHO to double check Brick’s crazy plan and jumped when it started beeping.

Timothy Lawrence’s face flickered onto the little screen.  He looked haggard, with thick bags underneath his bloodshot eyes.

“Timothy?” Axton blinked.

“Hey, Axton,” Timothy’s voice was wrecked.  “It’s been hell here at Sanctuary.  When are you guys coming back?”

“Not until Jack is dead,” Axton said.  “Are – are you okay, Tim?  You look, well, like shit.”

Timothy laughed and even on the poor quality screen, Axton could tell that it was forced.

“I, uh, haven’t been sleeping,” Timothy confessed sheepishly.  “Even with the changes, I still look like Jack, still sound like him.  After – after Roland’s death I’m not exactly popular around Sanctuary.”

“Give it time, Timothy,” Axton stretched his legs and let out a yawn.  “We’ll come back with Jack dead and Lilith in tow and _bam_ everything’s better.  We’ll be heroes, you won’t be tied down by the biggest fascist on Pandora history.  Everyone wins.”

“You will come back then, right?” Timothy asked.  “All of you?”

Something cold slipped down Axton’s spine at the thought that he might not come back.

“Yeah, Tim Tam,” Axton put on a smile, hoping it was convincing enough.  “We’ll all come back and have a party.”

“Good,” Timothy grinned and blinked sleepily over the ECHO.  “I don’t wanna lose a family again.”

The ECHO clicked off and Axton tucked it away with a heavy sigh.  This was going to be his final fight, Axton knew that.  No matter how many people he left behind, he had to do this.  He had to give them all a future, even if he didn’t get one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (pst Axton doesn't die he's just melodramatic as hell)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, this is still being written? Don't worry, my peeps, I haven't forgotten it!

Bruised, broken, and burnt, Axton led his family back to Sanctuary.  After a long, arduous fight against loaders and Hyperion personnel, it was good to be back somewhere familiar.  Axton still couldn’t get the sound of Mordecai gasping as they stepped into Fyrestone.  That was their home, a long time ago, and Jack destroyed it for nothing more than petty vengeance.

HQ was ominous and quiet without Roland or Lilith there.  Brick was standing by the door, arms folded and Mordecai was waiting by the computer.  Maya stepped forward and handed Mordecai the information chip.  He slid it into the computer and a map popped up showing the location of the Warrior – and of Jack.

“Claptrap can get you through the gate,” Mordecai said, hunched over the table.  “Once there, you’ll make your way through Hero’s Pass.  Brick and I will offer support but once you get into the Vault, it’s all you.”

“Thank you,” Maya said.  “We’ll leave in the morning.”

“Mordy and I are flying out tonight,” Brick boomed, slapping Mordecai on the back.  “Gonna do some recon work for ya’ll.”

Mordecai wrapped an arm around Brick’s waist and gave a wry smile.  “Everyone here gathered something for you.  Might wanna pick ‘em up before you go.”  Mordecai paused and looked at each of the vault hunters in turn, his smile growing soft around the corners.  “Thank you, Vault Hunters.  We couldn’t have done this without you.”

He patted Brick on the back and the two left the room.  Axton looked at the map, at the icon flashing somewhere outside the Eridium Blight.  That was where Jack took Lilith.  That was where the Warrior and the Vault were.

He half expected to hear some message from Angel, congratulating them on their success and encouraging them forward to victory.  Something felt oddly hollow in his chest as the memory of Angel, lying dead on the floor, surrounded by shards of glass and Eridium.

Just another casualty in Handsome Jack’s quest for glory.

It was right there, Axton realized, staring at the orange icon.  The end of this, the end of tyranny on Pandora, right at the end of that orange little icon.

“It’s almost done,” Maya finally said, her voice breaking the fragile silence.  “This is the end.”

“What do we do next?” Gaige asked softly.  Her voice had been small and soft since Angel and it broke Axton to hear it like that.  “I mean, after we kill Jack.  Then what?”

Axton glanced around, looking at the others.  They all looked down at their shoes, awkwardly not making eye contact.

“Before he died – ” Axton started.  “Roland… he offered us to stay here, in Sanctuary.  He offered us a home if we wanted it.  And I’m not – I don’t – what I mean – ” Axton sighed and ran a hand through his hair.  “I want to stay here; this is the closest thing to a home I’ve had in years.  But I don’t want to do it without you, any of you.”

That fragile silence grew weighty as Axton felt his face grow hot.  They knew his past, they had listened to the ECHO recordings of how he ended up on Pandora.  He knew what he sounded like, a glory hunting, ex-military man who had didn’t listen to authority.  Someone who came to Pandora for his own fortune, his own fame, and for nothing else.

Yet here he was, surrounded by miscreants and outlaws, who became his family.  These people meant the world to him and Axton would do anything to protect him.  Even die at the hands of Handsome Jack in order for them to live.

Gaige slipped her hand into Axton’s, her flesh fingers cold and calloused against his.

“I left my dad coming here,” she said in a quiet, timid voice.  “He was – he was my entire family and I had to leave him.  But you guys took me in, took care of me, watched out for me.  I couldn’t have asked for a better family than this.”

Salvador stepped up beside Gaige, resting his hand on her shoulder.  His hand covered her entire shoulder and, despite being the same height, he seemed to completely encompass her.

“You remind me of my little sister,” Salvador said and squeezed Gaige’s shoulder.  “All of you remind me of mi familia.  My cousins, brothers, sisters.  I come from Pandora, this planet is my home.  I thought you were all dead meat coming here, most outsiders are, but instead you surprised me.  I wanted to keep you safe; I wanted to protect you.”  Salvador let out a sigh.  “And instead you protected me.”

“Of course,” Maya leaned onto the table, the blue lights reflecting off her tattoos.  “That’s what being a team is about.”

“This is different, Maya,” Axton said.  “And you know it.”

Maya sighed heavily.  “I grew up in an abbey and, well, you know how well that went.  They used me as a threat for power and everyone revered me as a god.  Before I came onto the train, everyone looked at me like I was something special, something dangerous.  Up until I met Krieg, that’s all I was.  But after being with you guys, things are different now.  I feel like I have a family.”

Krieg emerged from the shadows behind Maya, his face twisting and contorting in pain.  Eventually it settled into something still and he brushed up next to Maya.  She slid her hand around his arm instantly.

“I don’t remember the time from before,” Krieg said in a strong, quiet voice.  “I only remember being _him_.  The psycho in my head.  Between the two of us we agree on some things – like you.  Like family.”  Krieg shuddered and his shoulders twitched.  Maya squeezed his arm and Krieg spoke again: “Become family.  Love and warm and _fight_.  Protect forever!”

There was a hiss as Zer0 snapped off his helmet.  It was becoming a more common sight between the six of them, Zer0 unmasked.  Despite having no hair, or eyebrows, or pupils, Zer0 had a spectacularly expressive face.  His black eyes changed hue depending on his mood and they warmed up orange as he walked up to the table.

“Then we all agree,” Zer0 said.  “We stay in Sanctuary / and stay together.”

“Yeah,” Axton nodded, his eyes growing misty and tightened his grip on Gaige’s hand.

“We have to get Dukino,” Gaige said instantly.

“Not happening,” Axton said as the somber air lifted immediately.

Salvador immediately jumped to Gaige’s defense, claiming that having a pet is good for a family and it would be cruel to leave him in Lynchwood.  Deputy Winger had been taking care of him but Dukino whined every time he and Salvador ECHOed each other.

Which Axton felt like was a great time to remind him that Dukino’s mother was a fucking giant skag who almost killed all of them.

“If he grows that big though,” Gaige mused.

“Sanctuary will fall to the ground,” Axton said.

“Jack first,” Maya gently interrupted the argument.  “Once he’s dead and Lilith is back, then we can get Dukino and do whatever it is vault hunters do when they retire.”

 

The elevator leading down to the the Vault of the Warrior was rickety and squealed as the gears rotated.  The fight through Hero’s Pass was difficult and Axton could still hear the echoes of Brick and Mordecai as their ship crashed into the planet.

Axton elbowed Zer0 in the ribs, giving him a firm nod.  Zer0 hesitantly nodded back.

“They’re not really gone, are they?” Gaige asked, her hands nervously checking the clip in her rifle over and over again.  “Brick and Mordy, I mean.”

Maya put her hand on Gaige’s shoulder.  “No, Gaige.  I don’t think they’re gone.  We will see them when this is over.”

Gaige snapped her clip into her rifle and slung it over her shoulder.  Her face was set, lips pressed tight in a thin line.  She flexed her robotic arm, something blue sparkling across the joints.

“We’re ready.”

The elevator screeched to a halt.  The door opened to a long, rocky pathway surrounded by glowing lava.  The heat suffused over Axton and he immediately started to sweat.  According to their map, the Vault would be at the end of the pathway.  That’s where Jack and Lilith would be.

“It’s been an honor,” Axton said, taking the first step off the elevator.

“It’s time to finish this,” Maya agreed and came up next to him, close enough that he could feel the crackling energy of her tattoos.

Side by side, Maya and Axton lead the others into the Vault.

The pathway twisted and turned before opening up to a huge cavern.  At the far end was the Vault gateway, a large and imposing arch that overlooked the ruined buildings in the cavern.  Statues were placed along the edges of the cavern, crumbling with lava pouring around them.

In the center of the ruins was Lilith, floating high in the air, fiery wings spread out and the Eridium collar shining around her neck.  Purple energy floated from her and spiraled into the Vault Key.

Axton jumped down first.  The rocks were crumbling beneath his boots as he ran forward.  His left hand hovered over his turret while his right hand gripped his rifle.  Handsome Jack was at the panel and turned slowly as they ran forward.

“Hey, right on time,” Jack said slowly.  “The key’s nearly ready.  But before I cleanse this planet I’m going to avenge my daughter!”

Jack tapped something on his wrist and three holo-Jacks appeared beside him.  Axton hefted up his rifle and fired.

For someone who spent his entire life riding on the coattails of everyone else’s glory, Jack was surprisingly difficult to kill.  Every minute, every second they spent fighting Jack was more time for Lilith to charge the Key.

The holo-Jacks kept the six of them separated leaving them constantly in flanking position.  They weren’t strong, Krieg slammed his buzzsaw into one and it shattered into blue pixels, but they were obnoxious.

Zer0 kept to the back, his shots on point as he weaved in and out of the battle field.  Gaige had Deathtrap beside her, hopping from rock to rock and firing her gun like a maniac.  Salvador kept his two assault rifled trained on the real Jack, eating up the shields until they broke with a resounding _crack_.

Then the surveyors and loader bots started dropping in.  Maya shouted at Krieg and the two of them ran around the ruins, corrosive weapons in hand as they tore through the robots.  Axton pulled out his shotgun and ran through up to Handsome Jack.  He was bleeding and limping as Salvador’s bullets rinsed through him.

Axton lifted up his gun and fired at Jack, the blast of it knocking him back to the center clearing.

“No!” Lilith cried out.  “The Key’s charged!”

The pieces of the key slammed together, flashing in a purple-white light.  Slowly, it descended.  Jack, bloody, barely clinging to life, stood up and pushed the Key into the slot.  Lilith fell from the air, the purple glow leaving her.

“You’re too late, bandits!” Jack exclaimed as a purple energy shield rose over them.  “I win!  The greatest weapon of Pandora and it’s mine to control!”

From the key spread purple glowing lines down the ruined stone.  It crossed down to the Vault door, covering the entire area in glowing purple lines.  The entire cavern rumbled and, from the lava, leapt a massive creature.

“Warrior!”

It looked similar to a skag, with a massive mane and a fiery mouth.  It was built of the same stone as the rest of the cavern and cracks ran up and down its body, glowing yellow and orange.

“Kill!”

With an almighty roar, the Warrior spewed lava and fire from its mouth before diving into the lava.  The rocks Gaige was jumping across were engulfed and she screamed as the lava rose over her feet.

Salvador stomped through the lava flow and scooped up Gaige, throwing her to Axton and away from the lava.  The lava licked up Salvador’s shields and he jumped onto dry land just as his shields failed.

The Warrior jumped up behind Zer0, lava splashing around it.  Crystalisks emerged as the lava retreated, their crystals golden-orange.  Zer0 jumped from his ledge and rolled to a neat crouch beside Maya and Krieg.

Axton flung down his turret and Gaige sent Deathtrap out again.

“Any ideas how to kill this thing?” he asked.

“It’s not immortal. / We need to find its weakness / and then exploit it.”

“Its chest!” Maya shouted.  She lifted up her pistol and fired at the Warrior’s chest, a glowing plate of stone.  The stone shattered and her next shot entered the chest.  The Warrior cried out and dove back into the lava.

“Good eye, Maya!” Axton grinned.

Unfortunately, that was something easier said than done.  It was called the Warrior for a reason.  Between the six of the Vault Hunters, they were able to put a severe dent in its health, but with crystalisks and rakk flanking them, it was proving to be a difficult fight.

Axton was low on ammo, his hands were aching and a burn on his shoulder was starting to blister.  Salvador’s voice was all but gone and his hair was singed from the heat, a cut on his cheek was bleeding.

Gaige was collapsed against a pillar; her cybernetic arm was sparking from where a rakk had taken a swipe at it.  Her face was red and shone with sweat and tears.  Zer0 hovered over her like a black angel, his suit cut open across his chest, revealing his white skin and blackish cuts.

Krieg and Maya were standing side by side, her siren tattoos were pulsing weakly and she was favoring her left leg.  Krieg’s body was shining with burns and his chest was littered with cuts and bruises.

His people were dying, Axton realized.  The Warrior was tearing them apart.

“Finish them off!” Jack shouted.

“No!” Lilith cried out.

The Warrior bent over the ruins, fire pouring from its mouth.  Axton reached for the last grenade on his belt.  He turned over to Zer0 and gave a firm nod.  Axton pulled the pin on the grenade.  It was one of Torgue’s, an explosive MIRV with a three second fuse.

He ran.  Jumping up onto a stone pillar, Axton leapt to the Warrior.  He punched through the protective chest plate and let go of the grenade.

The explosion slammed against him.  His shields were obliterated and the next flurry of explosions shook his entire body.  Axton felt his ribs crack, his lungs compressed from the shockwave and he couldn’t _breathe_.

Axton slammed into the ground with such force he felt the stone crack beneath him.  His head cracked against the stone and he saw stars.  Blood was in his mouth, the coppery taste dripping down his chin.

The Warrior was groaning and collapsed onto the ground, the fiery light inside had gone out.  Handsome Jack was beside himself with fury.

Axton’s vision went blurry and he coughed.  Sharp pain shot up his chest and he choked on blood.  Lilith was talking and Maya was walking to the console with a heavy limp, leaning on Krieg for support.

The entire ground shook and Jack screamed even louder.  Axton felt a soft hand touch his forehead and he opened his eyes.  He could barely make out Zer0’s helmet; the normally reflective surface was stained with blood.

“We did it,” Axton coughed and more blood trickled down his chin.  It gathered down his throat in a hot puddle.  He couldn’t feel his fingers anymore and each breath was like knives in his chest.  “It’s done, Zer0, it’s over.”

Axton let his eyes slip close again.  The numbness spread from his fingers up to his elbows.  His breathing was shallow and his chest burned.  Exhaustion crept through his bones and he sighed.

He heard someone kill Handsome Jack, his monologue cut off abruptly.  Gaige was laughing hysterically, her giggles sounding close to sobs.  Axton could hear Salvador’s deep voice, rumbling softly as Gaige’s tears subsided.

Alive.  Axton’s family was alive.  His heart beat slowed.  He couldn’t pull in another breath.  It was over.

“Not done yet, my friend,” Zer0 cradled Axton in his lap and held something shiny in his hand.  “We are nothing without you / Stay awake with me.”

Something sharp jabbed into Axton’s neck and hot warmth suffused his body.  It was as if molten gold was pumping through his veins, hot and pulsating.  Axton wanted to shout but he couldn’t even breathe, much less speak.

“One more, my friend,” Maya’s voice was next to him and Axton could barely make out a blue glow in the corner of his eye.

Another stabbing pain, this time in his chest.  His lungs expanded and Axton took a deep breath of air.  His ribs were healed, his lungs expanding and contracting with blessed oxygen.  Axton wanted to open his eyes but they were still too heavy.

“I think he needs another one,” Salvador’s voice was a deep rumble.  “Taking a grenade explosion without his shields… it’s a miracle he’s alive.”

The next jab was in his shoulder, this one warm and tingly, sending feeling down his arms and to his toes again.  Axton’s body was slowly healing itself back together, knitting bones back together and stitching his organs back into place.

Something cool and wet dripped over his face but Axton didn’t have the strength yet to move.  Tears, he realized.  Someone was crying over him.

“He’s gonna make it, right?”

It was Gaige, her voice thick and broken.

“He can’t – not after – Anshin has the best stuff and he didn’t actually – he was still breathing.”

Fingers pressed against Axton’s throat, checking his pulse.  They were thick fingers, rough with callouses and hot as fire.

“This is not his end,” Krieg whispered.  “He needs a doctor but he will live.”

Slowly the medicine worked its way through Axton’s body.  He squeezed his fingers into warm fists, curled his toes in his boots, and swallowed.  A groan worked its way out of his throat and he forced his eyes to open.

It took a few minutes of rapid blinking for his eyes to focus.  His head was still pillowed in Zer0’s lap, Krieg’s fingers resting against his neck.  Hovering over and around him were the other Vault Hunters.

They were bruised and bleeding but _alive_.  Salvador was going to have a jagged scar across one cheek and Maya was sporting an impressive burn down one side.  Krieg’s chest was crisscrossed with burns and cuts and Zer0’s helmet was cracked and Gaige’s arm was missing entirely.

Yet they were smiling over him, tears tracking down their cheeks.

Zer0 helped him stand up, a sturdy arm around his waist as his knees wobbled.  Gaige slid underneath his other arm, offering him the rest of the support he needed.

“Let’s go home.”


	9. Chapter 9

Epilogue

Axton exited the fast travel station and took a deep breath of salty, humid air.  The Fertility Festival seemed like the perfect way to relax after a long and arduous battle against the Warrior.  Pandora was safe, for now, and they deserved a break.

“Ah, the beach!” Gaige cheered, flinging open the door and letting the sunlight into the hut.  “Finally, something worthwhile!”

Maya stepped up next to Gaige, a pair of sunglasses on her head and a bag of books on her arm.  She flung an arm around Gaige, jostling her playfully.  “I say being hailed as heroes of Pandora is pretty worthwhile.”

Gaige stuck out her tongue.  “But it would be nice to relax, you know?”

The six vault hunters piled out of the hut onto a sunny beach.  It was Pandora’s very own vacation hot spot.  White sands, crystal blue waters, and a long line of colorful beach houses.

For the first time in a while, Axton felt the stress melt off his shoulders.  It had been a long few months, constantly on edge with Handsome Jack and fighting their way across Pandora.  But it was over – it was done.

Salvador gasped and reverently walked out to the beach, the water splashing around his ankles.  He stared at the beaches, the grandiose sign over the ocean, with something like awe on his rugged face.

“Race you to the beach house?” Gaige elbowed Krieg.

He laughed manically and the two dashed across the sand and surf, water splashing around them.  Maya chased after them.  Chuckling to himself, Axton came up next to Salvador, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I’ve never… we talked…” Salvador muttered to himself.  He jumped at Axton and brushed his hand over his eyes.

“You okay, Sal?”

“This planet is my home,” Salvador said.  “I’ve grown up here.  I know the locals, the bandits, the rules of survival.  It’s a dangerous and bloody world out there, amigo.  This place has always been a tourist place, for rich retired bandits.  My family is poor and we joked about spending a day here, just once to live outside of poverty.  And…”

“And now you’re here.”

“Si.  I’m here.”

“You’re a hero, Sal!  All of us!  If anyone deserves a vacation, it’s us.”

Salvador smiled wryly up at Axton.  “Ten bucks says Krieg’s already set something on fire.”

“Why not just steal it from me already?” Axton laughed.  “It’s not a bet if you know you’re gonna win.”

“Eh,” Salvador shrugged.

They made their way to the beach houses, the sunlight hot on their backs and the sand soft beneath their shoes.  They were supposed to meet Sir Hammerlock to prepare for the festival until the others showed up.

It was strange, Axton realized, to be out of uniform.  He had grown so used to wearing it that it was jarring to be in civilian clothes.  Gaige had insisted if they were going on a vacation they damn well better dress like it.

Axton felt almost exposed, wearing a casual button up shirt and cargo shorts with sandals.  He still had his turret and a few guns on him (just in case) but for the most part, Axton felt pretty naked out on Pandora.

But it made Gaige happy and that was enough for Axton.  Even Zer0 agreed to put a loud, floral printed shirt over his uniform.

Sir Hammerlock had rented out a large pavilion for the Fertility Festival.  Already, Maya was breaking into the moonshine while Gaige followed Sir Hammerlock with moon eyes.

“Ah, you’re all here!” Sir Hammerlock greeted Axton and Salvador.  “Seeing as the others are currently waylaid by their packing, I thought you might like to go on a little adventure before we really start the festivities!”

Axton groaned.  “I thought we came here to relax, not go on another quest!”

“I thought you might say that,” Sir Hammerlock sighed.  “But I’m afraid this cannot wait.  A boy named Sparky Flint has sent a group of assassins after you and, well, if we are to fully celebrate, these assassins must be dealt with.”

Axton looked over at Maya, who was pushing from tipsy to drunk.  Her tolerance hadn’t gotten that much better since they first came to Pandora.  She wobbled up to Axton, her face only faintly flushed.

“He’s right,” she said.  “Assassins would ruin any festival.”

“Excellent!” Sir Hammerlock said.  “Well off you pop, Vault Hunters.  One last adventure before the festival!  I wish you luck killing the assassins.”

 

Hours later they sat at the pavilion.  Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick were on their way to the festival and the assassins were dead.  Although they didn’t have much to do with that.

Six dead bodies had waited for them instead of the killer assassins that Sparky had promised.  It was kind of jarring for the past to come back for them and Axton couldn’t help but wonder how many other people would come after them?

“These are for you,” Sir Hammerlock handed each of them an ECHO recorder.  “Messages, I presume, from who killed the assassins.  Apparently, it was the efforts of six individuals who had no contact with each other.  Rather serendipitous, don’t you think?”

Axton opened his ECHO and read the message on it.

_Staff Sergeant Axton: First one’s free.  Now you’re on your own.  Regards, Sarah._

He smiled to himself and absently traced over her name.  Sarah, military to the core, who would rather divorce Axton that break regulation, killed a man for him.  He reached for the wedding ring around his neck and, for once, it didn’t feel so heavy.

Gaige and Salvador were both crying over their messages and Maya was blushing.

What a way to start their Fertility Festival.

Lilith and the others came down soon after.  Mordecai had an unruly Talon on his shoulder who kept pecking at Lilith.  Tiny Tina was riding on Brick’s shoulders, carrying fireworks and singing at the top of her lungs.  Timothy Lawrence walked behind, hunched over a little with a tentative smile on his face.

“Sorry we’re late, Killer,” Lilith apologized, pulling her hand back from Talon’s bite.  “Brick wouldn’t leave until we got him a new dressy shirt.”

“You never know when you might need one!” Brick insisted.

“Why the long faces?” Mordecai asked, catching onto their somber mood.  “It’s the Fertility Fest!  We should be celebrating!”

“I’m afraid they’ve had one last adventure and it was a little too close to home for our dear Vault Hunters.”

“It’s nothing,” Axton pushed his ECHO deep into his bag and forced a smile on his face.  “C’mon guys, let’s get to celebrating.”

The others did the same and gathered together with booze and food to start the celebration.  Slowly, as the night progressed, more people arrived.  Crimson raiders filled up the entire pavilion, shoulders brushing and, for once, not carrying the weight of an entire war on their shoulders.  Mr. Torgue even made it for the celebration, jumping down in a massive explosion with free guns in honor of the Fertility Festival.

Axton spent most of the night huddle in a corner, slowing drinking his rakk ale and watching as the others flirted and slowly left in pairs.  He laughed as Krieg jumped protectively in front of Maya with ever suitor that came her way.

In a dark corner, Hammerlock and Torgue were in quiet conversation.  Axton didn’t know Torgue could even talk that softly.

The ale was warm and Axton felt a fuzzy haze settle over him.  He leaned against the wall and the festivities started to die down.  Moxxi dragged Mordecai out by the collar of his shirt, looking like she was gonna eat him alive.

Maya had taken Krieg out hours ago and, if Axton looked out the window, he could see the two of them walking down the moonlit beach.  Brick took Gaige and Tina out before the party could get any more raunchy.

Which, Axton realized turning away from the window, it was already there.  Salvador was sitting between two raiders, alternating which one he gave his attention to.  Jessup was pressed up against the wall of the pavilion, someone with big shoulders holding him up.

Torgue and Hammerlock had long gone, Axton noticed with a grin.  Lilith started pushing couples out of the pavilion, leading them to their own separate places to celebrate with abandon away from prying eyes.

Axton yawned and took a final swig of his ale.  He was warm, his people were safe, and he was ready to rest for a thousand fucking years.

Someone sat down beside him.  Axton looked over and his eyes struggled to focus on Timothy’s face.  Somehow, over time, faint freckles started to burst over Timothy’s face, which was currently flushed red with alcohol.

“Hey, Timmy,” Axton yawned.  “Ready for bed?”

Timothy bit his lip and looked down awkwardly.  “Um, actually, not yet?”

Axton blinked sluggishly.  “It’s late.  Aren’t you tired?”

“It’s the Fertility Festival,” Timothy muttered.  “Everyone else is out celebrating and, well, no one wanted to celebrate with Jack’s doppelganger.  But you were nice and I thought… I thought you might celebrate with me?”

Axton’s brain sputtered, trying to connect the dots of what Timothy was saying.  Timothy suggestively licked his lips and it clicked.

“Oh!” Axton blushed.  “Tim, oh, buddy.  I’m flattered, honestly, but you’re drunk and I’m not much better.  If… if anything happened between us… this isn’t… this isn’t the right way.”

Timothy sighed.  “Oh.  I guess… I guess you’re right.”

“I’m sorry, Timothy,” Axton put a hand on his shoulder.  “Ask me next week, when you’re sober, and maybe things will be different then.”

Timothy gave a watery smile.  “Heh, I’ll take you up on that offer.”

Axton lifted Timothy up and they stumbled, side by side, to one of the few unoccupied homes.  They passed by Brick, who was snoring softly outside the home Tina and Gaige were staying at, no doubt keeping guard over them.

Falling into bed, Axton was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

 

The next morning was full of regrets and hangovers.  Zer0, who had been suspiciously absent during the peak of the festivities, suddenly reappeared to mock everyone else.  Sir Hammerlock had a huge breakfast laid out for everyone and Lilith had a hangover remedy for whoever celebrated too hard the night before.

As quickly as the festival started, it was over.  Torgue shouted a surprisingly romantic farewell to Hammerlock, who was blushing fiercely.  Moxxi rushed back to Sanctuary, sparing a quick and saucy glance to Mordecai.

Timothy groaned and let his head slam on the table.

“I want to die,” he mumbled into the wood.  “Kill me, Axton, please.”

“Can’t do that, Tim Tam,” Axton pushed a drink over to him.  “If I kill you then I can’t hold you to your promise last night.”

Timothy snapped his head up, face flaming red.  “You remembered that?!”

“Look around you, Timothy,” Axton flung an arm to the other Vault Hunters, laughing over breakfast together.  “This is our family and you are part of it.  Just because you’re sober now doesn’t mean what you said last night wasn’t true.  You want to belong and you do belong.  Don’t think you don’t because of what happened last night.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Timothy grinned sheepishly.  “I just… I got worried I made you uncomfortable.”

“Nah,” Axton winked.  “I’m gonna go for a run around the island.  Don’t wait up.”

Axton stood up and, in a moment of courage, bent over to kiss Timothy’s cheek.  He laughed at Timothy’s blush and grabbed the others to run around the island, hunting varkids for loot.

Handsome Jack was dead.  Pandora was safe.  Axton laughed with delight and heard the other Vault Hunters running behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's over! Oh, my goodness, this was a BEAST to write and I have loved every second of it! It would have never been completed without the constant support from your comments. Honestly, they made every day brighter and pushed me to finish this.
> 
> I am replaying BL2 for like, the millionth time, and I realized that I glossed over a lot of the side quests in the actually game. I think I'm going to write a series of short stories about the side quests that happened. Like Gaige helping Tina with her tea party or Krieg starting the war between the Zafords and the Hodunks.
> 
> Anyway, thank you all so much for reading!


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